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A HISTORY 



—OF 

THE EARLY SETTLEMENT 



OF 

HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO, 

By DANIEL SCOTT, Esq. 

\ 

WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND INDEX. 



Collected and reprinted 



The Hillsborough Gazette. 



PRINTED AT 

THE GAZETTE OFFICE.. 
1890 . 



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THE NEW YORK 




ASTOR, LENOX AND 
TILDEN FOUNDATIONS 
R _ 19S3 L 



CHAPTER I. 

The Destruction of Hannalistown — Where the Pioneers Emigrated From— Peter 
Patrick’s Adventure, and the First Settlement in the State— Something of 
the Magnitude of the Enterprise and Dangers Incurred by the Emigrants 
who Came by the Ohio— Graphic Description of His Labors Told by Colonel 
William Keys 1 

CHAPTER II. 

The French Dominion, with a Short Account of the Subsequent Contests and 
Cessions which Finally Brought the Territory of the Northwest Under the 
Control of the United States— Simon Kenton’s Capturo and Escape — The 
Story of Joshua Fleethart — First Permanent Settlement in the State at 
Marietta 5 



CHAPTER III. 

The Heroic Age of the West — Captain James Trimble — The Battle at the 
Point — Daniel Greathouse and the Massacre at Baker’s Block* House — 
St. Clair’s Expedition 9 



CHAPTER IV. 

Some of the Adventures of Duncan McArthur and Samuel Davis— The Capture 
and Escape of Israel Donaldson — Unsuccessful Attempts of Thomas Beals 
to Reach this County from North Carolina — The Burning of James Horton 
and John Branson — Simon Kenton Pursues a Party of Shawnees Through 
Highland County 12 



CHAPTER V. 

The Pattle of the East Fork....... 



15 



CHAPTER VI. 

Battle of Belfast — Beals and Pope Make an Expedition Into the County — 
Something about Land Warrants and how They were Located— An Ad- 
venture of Massie when Surveying in the Virginia Military District 20 



CHAPTER VII. 



Hardships and Privations Suffered by the Surveyors — Simon Kenton Makes 
the First Location in Highland — Early Adventures About Manchester — 
The Capture of Andrew Ellison — Exciting Race of John Edgington — 
Wayne's Victory, and the Peace Following — The Last Indian Battle on 
the Scioto — William Rogers and Rev. Robert Finley 25 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Habits and Customs of the Pioneers, and the Hardships and Privations They 




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CONTENTS . 



Endured — The Settlement at Chillicothe, and the Means Employed to 
Stimulate Its Rapid Growth as a Town — The Treaty of Greenville, by 
which Permanent Peace was Secured to the Northwest Territory 30 

CHAPTER IX. 

Organization of Adams* and Ross Counties — First Settlement Within the Limits 
of Highland at Sinking Springs — John Wilcoxon, the Pioneer Householder 
— Early Liquor Legislation in the Territory — Appointment of Justices of the 



Peace, and Their Peculiar Ideas of the Administration of Justice — Causes 
which Retarded the Growth of the Chillicothe Community, and Led to 
the Settlement of Highland County 34 

CHAPTER X. 

The Town of New Market Laid Off and Platted, and the First Houses Built — 
The First White Woman in what is Now Highland County 40 

CHAPTER XI. 

Jacob and Enoch Smith Settle at the Falls of Paint — General McArthur Selects 
a Site and Lays Off the Town of Greenfield 45 

CHAPTER XII. 

Wishart's Tavern, and the First Postmaster at New Market— The Village of New 



Amsterdam — Job Wright Makes the First * Settlement at Green field— The 
Halcyon Days— Permanent Settlers of New Market in 1800— A Tea Party — 
The Seat of Government Removed to Chillicothe 47 

CHAPTER XIII. 

First Settlers at Greenfield— The Poet Curry— Major Anthony Franklin Settles 
in the County — Nathaniel Pope and Family Start from Virginia for the 
Northwest Territory 52 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Hugh Evans Settles on Clear Creek — Plants the First Corn, Builds a ‘‘Sweat 
Mill,” and Prospers, while Nathaniel Pope is Sowing the First Wheat, 
and William Pope, John Walters and Others are Hunting Bear, on Lees 
Creek and Rattlesnake with the Indians— The Finleys and Davidson Find 
Similar Excitement and Trials on Whiteoak 57 

CHAPTER XV. 

A Settlement is Made on Rocky Fork, and “Smoky Row” is Laid Out— John 
Porter’s Grist Mill — Death of Thomas Beals — Elijah Kirkpatrick, Lewis Sum- 
mers, George Row, Joseph Meyers, Isaac Laman and George Caley Come to 
New Market— Adam Lance, George Fender and Isaiah Roberts Join the 
Finleys on Whiteoak — The VanMeters Settle on the East Fork — Robert and 
Tary Templin Settle on Little Rocky Fork, and Simon Shoemaker, Frederick 
Broucher and Timothy Marshon Locate at Sinking Springs — Adam Medsker 
and Robert Branson are Buried at New Market— Benjamin Carr, Samuel But- 
ler, Evan Evans, Edward Wright and William Lupton Settle About Leesburg 
— Lupton Builds the First Saw Mil), and James Howard the First Corn Mill; 



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CONTENTS. 



in That Neighborhood — The Friends Erect a Meeting-House, while Mrs. Bal- 
lard is the First to be Buried in the Graveyard .* G2 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Michael Stroup Surprises the People of New Market, and with William Finley 
and Robert Boyce Cuts a Wagon Road to Mad River — After Suffering Many 
Privations, Stroup Enters Into Partnership with George Parkinson and They 
Make Wool Hats at $18 per Dozen — Arthur St. Clair, the Territorial Governor, 
Being Relieved by the Admission of Ohio into the Union, Returns to Penn- 
sylvania, where he Dies in Poverty 00 

CHAPTER XVII. 

John Gossett Erects a Grist Mill— Something About Lewis Gi bier— Brush creek 
Currency — The First Settler in Union Township— Thomas Dick Settles in 
Marshall, Establishes a School, and Founds the Presbyterian Church of That 
Neighborhood— Sinking Springs and Vicinity Receives Additional Inhabitants 
in the Persons ot Simon Shoemaker, Jr., and his Brothers Peter and Martin, 
John Hatter, John Fulk, (^eorge Suiter, James Williams, Jacob Roads, David 
Evans, Jacob Fisher, Abraham Boyd, Peter Stultz, Dr. John Caplinger, Capt. 
Wilson, Henry Countryman and Rev. Benj. VanPelt 09 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

William and Bigger Head and Joseph, John and Benjamin West Settle in the 
Neighborhood of Sinking Springs and Marshall— Rumors of Indian Hostilities 
at Chillicothe Create Great Fear and Excitement in the New Settlements— 
Graphic Account of the Killing of the Shawnee Chief, Waw-Wil-a-AVay 7G 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Morgan VanMeter Locates on the East Fork, Opens a Hotel, and Lays Out a Town 
— Jonathan Berryman Appointed Postmaster at New Market — Aaron Watson 
Starts a Hotel, and John and William Campton Establish a Tannery in the 
Same Place — How the Materials for the Manufacture of Leather were Procured 
— Marriage of Michael Stroup and Polly Walker, with a Description of the 
Wodding Ceremony — David Ross Settles in Union Township— David Reece, 
a Carpenter, is Cordially Welcomed, and Contributes Greatly to the Conven- 
iences of the Early Settlers— Joseph Eakins Locates near New Market 80 

CHAPTER XX. 

Edward Tiffin, the First Governor of Ohio, Enters Upon His Duties, and the First 
General Assembly Meets at Chillicothe — Ezekiel Kelly Settles on Rocky Fork 
and Assists in the Erection of the First House in Hillsboro— Samuel Gibson 
and His Remarkable Mill — Judge Mooney, the Pioneer School-Master — The 
Growth of Greenfield, with a Description of Some of Its Early Taverns and 
Other Business Enterprises — Edom Ratcliff’, Job Haigli, George Gall and 
Others Locate in Different Parts of the County 84 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Captain James Trimble’s Second Visit to Highland — Rev. Edward Chaney and 
His Missionary Work Among the Indians — “Splitting Rails” on the Present 
Site of Hillsboro— Struggles and Privations of the Evans and Hill Families to 
Effect a Permanent Settlement on Clear Creek— Cyrus Blount, Geo, Nichols, 



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CONTENTS. 

Joseph Knox, George Hobson, Matthew Kilgore, Wm. Killbourn, Samuel Lit- 
tler and Joseph W. Spargur Move Into the County 89 

CHAPTER XXII. 

The Legislature Creates the County of Highland and Establishes Its Boundaries — 

. First Session of the Common Pleas Court, with Names of Judges and Jurymen 
— Extracts from the Records — The First Church in Brushcreek Township — 
James Carlisle and His Celebrated Tobacco — Proceedings of the Board of 
County Commissioners, ai^d Result of the Election in 1805— An Anecdote of 
John Gossett, Highland’s First Representative in the Legislature— Surveying 
and Establishing Wagon Roads Through the County — The First School in 
Union Township. 94 

"chapter XXIII. 

Detailing the Massacre of the Jolly Family, the Capture of William Jolly, and 
His Thrilling Adventures Among the Indians, with the Efforts of His 
Relative^ to Rescue Him ; /. 108 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Proceedings of the County Commissioners, and Extracts from Court Records— 
Origin of the Names of Water-Courses in the County— Additional Settlements 
in the Neighborhood of Greenfield — Mo3es Patterson Erects a Mill Near Hills- 
boro— Roush, Arnett and Wilkin Move Into the County 10S 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Incidents and Anecdotes of the Early New Market Settlement— Col. William Keys 
and the Hardships which He and His Family Endured in Their Journey to 
Highland— The Stafford, Caley and Creek Families Move In and Settle in 
Different Localities— Court Records, Closing Up the Year 1806 112 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Subject of the Removal of the County-Seat is Agitated, and the Citizens of 
New Market Make a Desperate Effort to Retain in Their Village the Seat of 
Justice— John Carlisle’s Mercantile Venture on Clear Creek — Laying Out and 
Establishing New Roads — Rewards Offered for Wolf and Panther Scalps — 
John Smith Starts a Store in New Market, and Afterwards Removes to Hills- 
boro— James Fitzpatrick Settles Near Hillsboro— Peter Cartwright and James 
Quinn, Early Methodist Ministers, and Their Labors— Matthew Creed and 
His Milling Enterprise — A Turkey Pen 119 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Frederick Fawley, Jeremiah Smith, Matthew Creed, Jo. Hart, Mark Easter, Abra- 
ham Clevenger and Jesse and William Lucas Move Into the County — A 
Queer Marriage Fee— Accessions, to the Settlements Near Leesburg and Fall 
Creek, Composed of the Wrights, Morrows and Pattons— Court Records and 
Election Results — Early Township Officers— Jacob Hiestand Locates Near 
Sinking Springs — The Rogers Settlement Near Greenfield — Early Presbyterian 
History 128 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Common Pleas Court Records— Establishment of a Permanent Seat of Juslice 

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CONTENTS. 

for Highland County— Names of Male Inhabitants Over Twcnty-Ono Years 
of Age 13G 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

Last Sessions of the Courts at New Market— A Description of the Manner in 
which Houses and Barns were Built — Meager Church and School Privileges— 
The Ravages of Squirrels, Wolves, Foxes, &c. — Further Court Records, and 
Proceedings of the County Commissioners — Opening of New Roads — 
William C. Scott’s Miraculous Escape from Indians 147 

CHAPTER XXX. 

Description of an Early School-House — A Famous De$r Lick — Rev. James Quinn, 
an Itinerant Minister — The Commissioners Meet at the New County-Seat— 
How Jo. Hart Bribed a Jury with Roast Venison..... 155 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

The VanMetcr Family -“Incidents Connected with the Settlement of Dodson 
Township— The First Distillery in the County— A Bushel of Corn for a Gallon 
of Whisky— The Growth of Hillsboro— The Boundaries of Paint Township- 
First Marriage in Hillsboro— Horrible Death of Andrew Edgar from the Bite 
of a Rattlesnake 1G1 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

The Township of Richland— Description of a General Muster— Election Returns 
for the Year 1808— The Whipping Post, and the Part it Took in the Adminis- 
tration of Justice in Highland County 170 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

Erection of the Court House— Commissioners’ Proceedings— Patterson’s Mill— A 
Horse-Thief and His Punishment — The College Township Road — Organiza- 
tion of Union Township — Election Returns for 1809 177 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The Whisky Road, and a Description of the Manner in Which It was Made — New* 
Settlers About Sugartree Ridge — Contracts Given for the Erection of a Jail — 
— A Good Boar Story — The First Case of Imprisonment for Debt in Highland 
County — Concord Township Laid Off and Named 184 



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INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



In giving, to the public this volume of the unfinished writings of Daniel 
Scott, credit is only asked for having preserved to posterity a valuable work. 

The story of the sufferings, heroisms, labors and trials of the pioneers of the 
Northwest Territory has been written many times, but nowhere have the home- 
ly facts and incidents of their every-day struggles with savage nature and savage 
man been more graphically portrayed than is done in these few chapters. 
Many of the men who chased the deer, and hunted the wild Indian, and were in 
turn hunted by him, over the hills and through the hollows of Southern Ohio, 
inscribed their names on the roll of immortality, and as long as the history of 
the people who settled the Mississippi Valley is read, their names will bo known 
and revered; while thousands of others, whoso names are unknown and unsung, 
labored as zealously, suffered as intensely, and died as bravely; and it is due to 
their labor and toil, and that of their wives and children, that the center of pop- 
ulation in a Country many times larger than the original Colonies has passed far 
beyond the wildg where Simon Kenton made the first location of land in High- 
land county, Ohio. It is of the struggles and toils, privations and amuse- 
ments, joys and sorrows, of these latter, that this volume gives a glimpse. 

Scott began the publication of “A History of Highland County from 
its Earliest Settlement to June, 1851,” in May, 1858. So ephemeral is the work of 
a newspaper writer, that after the lapse of thirty years from the date of the 
first publication, it has been found impossible, by most diligent endeavor, to 
procure all of this. In gathering together so much as is here given, credit is 
due to Thomas M. Boyd, Esq., of Greenfield, O , and Hon. Charles II. Collins, 
of Hillsboro, O., for valuable assistance rendered. In this reprint some obsolete 
names are changed, some errors in dates and mistakes in names and places are 
corrected, and events are placed, as far as possible, in chronological sequence. 

It is very much to be regretted that Scott did not complete his work, 
and that it was not brought down to June, 1851, as originally intended. What 
the causes were which induced him to cease its publication are unknown. 
Had he done so, it would have been a work of much greater value, and that it 
would have retained the interest of the reader to the end, is undoubted, for be 
had the rare faculty of making the dry facts of history exceedingly interesting. 
As a writer, he was undoubtedly the most facile and scholarly ever con- 
nected with the press of Highland county. lie loved the people of whom 
he wrote. Born and reared in their midst, he knew their privations and the 
struggles they had to hew their homes out of the wilderness, and he admired 
them for their sturdy perseverance and homely virtues. Careful, conscientious 
and painstaking, he sought out the traditions of the early settlers, sifted the 
evidence, weighed the testimony gleaned from all available sources, and 
has undoubtedly given the correct version in all cases where there was a dif- 
ference in the accounts. Like bir Walter Scott when he wrote his “Border 
Minstrelsy,” he personally visited the places and interviewed the actors, if 
living, and if not, those of their successors most likely to know the facts. At the 
time he wrote there were living many who had actually been connected with 



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INTRODUCTION . 



the earliest settlements; and the sentiments, opinions, mode of life and amuse- 
ments, as well as the general character of the people were those of the primitive 
backwoodsman. The war of the Rebellion changed their thoughts to other matters 
of vital interest. Time in its continued advance up the cycle of years dropped the 
older inhabitants on the grassy wayside, honored and lamented, it is true, but 
not mourned with the same feelings of grief as in former times. Too many 
had suffered the keener sorrow of having near relatives and friends cut down in 
the prime and vigor of manhood, by the desolation of internecine war. They 
whose constant practice it was to first read the lists of “killed, wounded and 
missing” in the daily newspaper accounts of the battles, were not wont to miss 
as keenly the quiet departure of those whoso lives had extended beyond the 
allotted period of three score years and ten. 

When this war ended a new era began. An epoch was passed, back of 
which few cared to go. Ten years later Scott would have found his task im- 
practicable. A generation having passed away since he wrote his chapters, in- 
terest is being renewed in the men who settled the country, and no longer is it 
entirely centered in those who did its battles. As time passes this feeling will 
grow, and the hero of the forest will be no less honored than the hero of the 
field. Moving at the pace we now are, it may be pardonable to halt a moment 
and consider the simple character and modest lives of our ancestors. 
One who had been a cotemporary of Scott recently returned here, after an 
absence of more than thirty years, and expressed himself astonished at the im- 
provements made in his absence. Accustomed as he had been during that 
time to see, springing up like the prophet’s gourd where but a short time before 
the only signs of life were a few Indian tepees or scattered buffaloes, cities far 
exceeding in luxury, architecture, population and wealth anything the world 
had known since the Goth and Hun destroyed the ancient civilization of 
the Roman Empire, he was nevertheless forced to acknowledge his surprise and 
pleasure in the evidences of substantial advancement shown in Hillsboro 
and Highland county. Nothing of stirring importance occurred in the 
county until the war of 1861-65. To be sure, a regiment of infantry was en- 
listed for the war of 1812, and another regiment went to the front in the Mexi- 
can War, to return home decimated in numbers and covered. with glory; but 
the people were still interested in opening up new clearings, and retained the 
rough and ready ways of the first settlers. So meagre were the means of com- 
munication with the outside world at the time of the Mexican War, it is related 
that when the volunteers left they marched east to Chillicothe and took trans- 
portation from that place by water to Cincinnati, in preference to going 
direct to the latter place. On their return, the completion of the Milford and 
Chillicothe Turnpike provided a more direct way for coming home. The old 
Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad gave better facilities, when completed, in 1853, 
and afforded the merchants and the few others who left their homes a speedier 
mode of travel than the old stage-coach. 

Had David Hays returned in 1850 to the town he had laid off on the two 
hundred acres of forest, purchased in 1807 for the consideration of $100 from 
“Benjamin Ellicott, through his attorney in fact, Phineas Hunt,’’ he doubtless 
would have been astonished at the growth of the town and county, but other 
than that the faces of many would have been new to him and that the appear- 
ance of the landscape had been changed by the felling of the forests, he would 
have felt at home, for the people were the same. Were he to return in 1890 to 
“the town of Hillsborough’’ he would be completely lost, a stranger in a strange 
country. The town which, thanks to his wisdom and taste, has become one of 
the prettiest spots on the earth, would be a revelation to him, Its broadstreets, 



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INTRODUCTION . 

all macadamized and clean, lined with rows of shade trees set in wide strips of 
green lawn, its handsome residences in tasty and ornamental grounds, and 
its substantial business blocks and public edilices, would in themselves be 
enough to astound him. But if he stopped to consider the changes made 
through the discoveries of science he would be completely bewildered. What' 
with the streets lighted by electricity, and the houses by gas, the telephone and 
telegraph, the railroad and turnpike, the type-writer and graphophone, the 
photograph and the steam engine, the reaping machine, the steam plow, and 
the traction engine, his bewilderment, in comparison with the perplexity of 
liip VanWinkle after his twenty years sleep in the Kaatskill Mountains with 
Hendrick Hudson, would be as ignorance to wisdom. What he would find, were 
he to return in the year 1930, can only be a matter of speculation, but that he 
would find the world better, wiser and more populous can not be doubted. 
Whether it will be happier and more contented, may be a question of greater 
doubt. 

The towns in a purely agricultural community are representative of the 
agriculturists. The community of interests and the concinity of ideas, tastes 
and habits of town and country are so close that the prosperity of one is an 
index to the prosperity of the other. If the people of the towns are found ad- 
vanced, progressive, and prosperous, the people of the country may, without hes- 
itation, be set down as being in a like condition. The converse of this proposi- 
tion is equally true. 

Hillsboro, being the county seat and centrally located, quickly became 
after its establishment the leading towh in the county, and to it came a class of 
people with education and accomplishments unusual for the times. Their 
thoughts and attention were at once directed to the subject of education. On 
account of this and its healthy location the place soon became 
noted for its schools, more particularly those devoted to the education 
of females, and was renowned during the first half century of its exist- 
ence for its polished and courtly society. It is to be regretted, perhaps, that in 
the struggle after more material things these matters should have been permit- 
ted to fall into partial inusitation. The spirit of progress, love 
of education, culture and aesthetic taste whick pervaded the community of Hills- 
boro was emulated by the other villages and the whole population of the county, 
and nowhere in the State can bo found a more generally intelligent and cul- 
tured people than that which inhabits Highland “county. Settled as it w r as 
largely by the hardy sons of the cavaliers of Virginia and the Carolinas, through 
Limestone, Ky.« and the liberal and polished pioneers of Chesapeake Bay by 
way of Fayette county, Pa,, it3 early settlers possessed advantages far superior to 
those who settled many other parts of the Territory. While it will not be claimed 
that the ideas and habits peculiar to them were those best calculated to make a 
wealthy community, it can not be denied that except in this one matter of 
money getting, they are much pleasanter and perhaps more to be admired. 

New accessions were made from all the moving population that from the 
beginning of the century swept over Ohio to the Great West, and many whose 
families are among the most respected and prominent in the county and are 
commonly supposed to belong to the earliest pioneers, are not found in the lists 
of the first settlers made -by Scott. 

The last sentences of his writing are descriptive of the first school-house 
on Sugartree Kidge. At the election following the erection of this house there 
were fifty-seven votes cast in the township, which at that time included a good 
portion of the present townships of Jackson and Washington. At the last 
Presidential election the township, w|tfo $ niuch diminished territory, cast 299 

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INTRODUCTION . 



votes. It is to the determination therein evinced by the early settlers to 
secure to their children the advantages of education, notwithstanding the diffi- 
culties seemingly in the way, that we owe the present magnificent public school 
system of the State of Ohio. From the few schools similar to the one de- 
scribed by the author, which did not exceed at that time six or seven within 
the county, have grown the one hundred and fifty-nine school-houses which now 
dot it over at a cost of $207,503, and require the services of a corps of one hun- 
dred and ninety-eight educated men and women as teachers, at an annual ex- 
penditure of $61,000 for salaries and $14, COO for other expenses. From a popu- 
lation of 5,766 inhabitants in the county in 1810, the population has increased 
until in the year 1888 there were 4,708 boys and 4,481 girls between the ages of 
six and twenty-one, of whom 7,498 atFended school in that year. In t|iese 
schools the child of the humblest is afforded the opportunity to study orthogra- 
phy, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography and grammar in the country 
schools, and in the larger towns history, drawing, music, physical geograph v, 
physics, physiology, botany, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, literature, chem- 
istry, astronomy, book-keeping, natural history, rhetoric, science of govern- 
ment, Latin, Greek, German and French. Children unable to purchase books 
are furnished with the same at public expense, and all children between six 
and fourteen years of age are compelled to attend school at least sixteen weeks 
in each year. From this it will be observed that the youth of to-day has a 
much better opportunity of becoming acquainted with the authors of the school- 
books, than their grand-fathers had in the old unhewed-log cabin, puncheou- 
ffoor, cat-and-clay-chimney school-houses of the first settlers. If a little learn- 
ing is a dangerous thing, the rising generation is certainly afforded excellent 
opportunities for sipping at the Pierian spring. 

The cost of living, and taxes, increase in proportion to the advances made 
in civilization. In 1810, with a population of 5,000 souls, the taxes collected for 
all purposes in the county did not .exceed $1 per capita, while in 1890, with a 
population not exceeding 35,000, the taxes average almost $9 per capita. More 
tax is annually collected now from dogs and saloons in the county than there 
was from all sources eighty years ago, and farm lands have not increased in 
value during thirty years, while the cost of cultivation is greater and the return 
less therefrom. The cause is evident. While population has been increasing 
at an enormous ratio, the country lias been developing at a much greater 
one. The few railroads that thirty years ago handled in an indifferent way 
the products of the country, have been extended until every portion of it is 
brought within easy reach of a market, the result being that production and 
transportation have far outstripped consumption and population. A system of 
fostering home industries by governmental protection at the expense of the agri- 
culturist, has been another cause, for, while the latter produces more than the 
country consumes, and is compelled to accept the prices which the surplus will 
bring in foreign markets, he is prevented from purchasing in return the articles 
manufactured there until tribute has beefi first paid to the manufacturer of 
like articles at home. Whether the advantages of modern civilization have 
not proved more burdensome than beneficial is a theme lor the philosopher and 
statesman. 

The most visible indication of material improvement is in the turnpike sys- 
tem of the county. The first roads improved were the Milford and Chillicothe 
Road and the Hillsboro and Ripley Road. Congress, in 1836, having apportion- 
ed the surplus in the treasury among the States, the Ohio Legislature divided 
its portion among the counties. The act of the Legislature apportioning this 
fund, which was popularly known as the “Jackson Fund,” among the counties, 



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IN TROD UCTION* 

authorized its expenditure in a number of ways, one of them being by sub- 
scription to the capital stock of turnpike or railroad companies, and Highland 
county’s part was devoted to aiding the two turnpike companies in construct- 
ing the roads named. The Milford and Chillicothe Road was a link in a long 
system connecting Cincinnati with the East, and the people of this county 
were interested in it, as it furnished an outlet to other than the local markets. 
The Ripley Road was a more purely local one, which by its completion would 
accomplish the same object by way of the Ohio River. The sum of $39,450 was 
subscribed to the Milford and Chillicothe Road and $7,500 to the Ripley Road. 
The fund was eventually all paid back to the State, so that the only direct ben- 
efit the county received from it was its temporary use at five per cent, interest. 
No money was ever received from the roads in the shape of dividends, and the 
investment was an entire loss, if viewed as a speculation or money-making 
scheme on the part of the county. 

A few years ago the interest of the other stockholders was purchased by 
the county for the public use and the roads converted from toll to 
free roads. Both have since then been improved by the adjacent property own- 
ers, with the exception of a portion of the Mjlford and Chillicothe Road 
between Rainsboro and the bridge over Rocky Fork. This is the only Govern- 
ment or State aid received by the county for public improvements. The ex- 
penditure in this case, however, proved to be a blessing in disguise. The only 
circulating medium at that time w r as the notes of State and other banks, which 
fluctuated so rapidly that a person who thought himself wealthy in the morning 
might find himself a pauper at night. Very little coin was in circulation in the 
county, and when a piece of it was secured it was religiously hoarded away. 
For some reason it was determined to pay the assessments on the stock 
subscribed to the turnpike companies in script, and by making this receivable 
for taxes, it at once became the most popular circulating medium in the county, 
which in supplying a great want caused by the scarcity of an acceptable 
currency, greatly aided in business, and saved the people of the county from 
the heavy losses sustained in many other parts from the use of the notes of broken 
and worthless banks. For many years this was almost the only “money 7 ’ used 
in the county. Although the total sum appropriated appears small, it must not 
be forgotten that it represented more than three times the entire collections of 
the county for taxes in 1840. An appropriation of one million dollars would not 
be comparatively larger at this time. The construction of these roads was of 
great convenience and benefit to the people of the country through which they 
passed, and was quite an undertaking at the time. 

They were laid out sixty feet wide, and cleared of stumps, trees and logs— no 
small task in itself. Next they were graded, and the work done is equal to the 
best accomplished in recent years. Then they were covered with broken stone. 
As the material had to be hauled long distances over bad roads, and afterwards 
broken and placed on the road-bed, the cost was very great. Stone culverts 
were placed at the runs and ditches, and bridges over the larger streams. No 
figures can be procured at this day from which to learn the cost, but it was not 
less than $5,000 per mile. The Milford and Chillicothe Road became the 
thoroughfare from Chillicothe and Zanesville to Cincinnati, and continued to be 
so ufitil the railroads changed this mode of travel. The merchants from all the 
larger places made annual trips by stage over this road and across the mount- 
ains by the National Road to Philadelphia and the East, where they laid in a 
year’s supply of goods, to be sent home by wagon. , 

Nothing further was done in the way of building roads until about the year 
1866, when the people of Sinking Springs and vicinity determined to build 



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iNTkonVCTIOtf. 

road from that place over the old Maysville and Zanesville Road to the Pike 
county lino. This was the first road built under the free turnpike laws of the 
Sta,te in the county. An assessment was levied according to benefits upon the 
land owners within a district extending two miles on each side of the proposed 
improvement, and the same placed upon the tax duplicate. In this case the 
property owners “worked out” their assessment on the improvement, making it 
in effect a voluntary contribution from all for the general benefit. From this 
time there was a general movement in the county for better roads, and by the 
year 1876 roads had been completed or were rapidly approaching completion 
from Hillsboro to Belfast and Locust Grove, Hillsboro to Lexington, Hillsboro 
to Danville and Pricetown, Greenfield to Cynthiana, Greenfield to Carr’s Ford, 
Greenfield to the county line, Greenfield to Centerfield, Samantha to Leesburg, 
Lynchburg to Dodson ville and McCarthys, and Lexington to the county line. 
These roads were built under the same general act as that at Sinking Springs, 
and were macadamized, but the work was not so elaborate as that done on the 
Milford and Chillicothe Road, although it cost almost as much per mile. The 
discovery of gravel about this time in large quantities where before it 
was not known to exist gave new zest to the movement, and from then 
until the present, more than two hundred miles of turnpike roads have been 
built, making the total aggregate of 341 miles of free macadamized roads in the 
county. The total number of roads improved at present is sixty-eight. Two, 
the Milford and Chillicothe and the Ripley Roads, having been built by private 
corporations and afterwards purchased and made free by the county, twenty- 
one built under the “two mile law” and the remaining forty-five under the “one 
mile law,” which is similar to the “two mile law” except in the extent of terri- 
tory included in the assessing district and that all persons within the bounds 
are assessed equally. The cost of this work has been very great. The expense 
of building the roads has not been less than three-quarters of a million dollars 
while the bridges and culverts have cost at least a half million more. There is 
not a principal road and but few by-roads of importance now unimproved, and 
it is possible at any season of the year to reach all parts of the county over roads 
better than are the streets of many cities far exceeding in numbers the popula- 
tion of the county. The advantage from these improvements has been so great 
that the cost has been scarcely a burden, and when in a short time it is entirely 
paid oft the returns will greatly compensate for the immediate trouble and 
labor of the work, and posterity for a long time will reap the benefits of the fore- 
sight and enterprise of the present generation. 

There was nothing jejune about the religion of the pioneer preachers. It 
was of the positive kind and their sermonizing literally that of soldiers in the 
array of the church militant, who unweariedly wrestled with Satan not “until 
the breaking of the day,” but all through life. The dangers from wild beasts 
and men, and the sufferings from exposure to the elements were not nearly so 
real to them as were the “roaring lion” and the sufferings of the damned in 
“the lake of fire.” Hell was a positive reality, and its terrors were pictured to 
the congregations gathered at some lonely house or under the sylvan awning of 
the virgin forest in a manner and with a fervor more striking and terrifying 
than cquld have been done by the genius of a Milton or a Dante. “Flee from 
the wrath to come,” was the refrain of their discourses, and on this text they 
played as upon a harp of a thousand strings. Fired with the zeal of martyrs, they 
earnestly believed in the terrible realness of the doctrines they taught. With 
homely illustration, quaint humor, and fervid imagination, they expounded the 
doctrines of a terrifying creed. A physical Heaven and Hell, a future exist- 
ence of rewards and punishments, a straight and narrow way to one and the 



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INTRODUCTION . 

broad and tempting one to the other, the efficacy of the vicarious atonement ad 
a means of attaining the first, and the wilts and snares of the devil to seduce 
the unwary into the latter, constituted, with occasional denunciations pf the 
“scarlet woman,” the sum and substance of their preachings. It was a religion 
suited to their listeners, strong, vigorous, actual and positive. Creeds there 
were, and denominations, but the end was sought along the same well-blazed 
trace. Theories of the creation had not mystified them, scientists had not cast 
doubt upon the existence of Adam and Eve, Darwin had not announced the 
doctrine of evolution and aspersed the progenitors of the human race, nor philol- 
ogists discovered that llades did not mean a place of unceasing torment. Pre- 
destination and foreordination, election and free will, were not subjects which 
troubled them. The changes in modes of worship and doctrines of religion as 
practiced and held to-day would appear as remarkable to them as the advances 
in the physical world 1 

Woman kept her place in the church as directed by St. Paul, and was rever- 
enced for her meek and gentle virtues. She ministered to the sick, taught her 
children, kept her house, and while assisting with her labors in the struggles for 
existence amidst the wilds of nature, by her kindly deeds and brave heart made 
life possible to the pioneer, and preserved the morals and education of the com- 
munity and saved the settlers from drifting back into barbarism. To the men 
was left the conduct of affairs. She did not dabble in politics, nor attempt to 
regulate the conscience of the public, and was unknown as a moral or religious 
haranguer; and with a modesty which perhaps might be becoming to some of 
her daughters, she was more interested in her home, her husband and her child- 
ren than she was in the notoriety and adulation so loved and sought by the 
demagogue. 

The Presbyterians, who emigrated from the valley of Virginia, brought to 
this part of the country all the piety and bigotry of their homes, and soon the 
churches of Kocky Spring, Nazareth, Fall Creek and New Market were organ- 
ized. The discipline was rigid, and the history of its enforcement seems ludi- 
crous at this distance, although it was real enough at the time. Many of their 
descendants who hold their fidelity to the cause of temperance as a particular 
evidence of their zeal and earnestness in the cause of religion, would doubtless 
be surprised to know that persons had been expelled from the church for join- 
ing such a society a century ago. And those who speculate on the providence 
of God and gamble on their mortal existence by taking out policies in life in- 
surance companies, may not be aware that such a proceeding would have been 
considered by their grand-fathers a grievous offense, requiring admonition, and 
if contumaciously persisted in, expulsion from the communion of the church. 

The pioneers were temperate in temperance. One of the officers in the 
church of Nazareth conducted a distillery on Clear Creek, and “bitters” before 
breakfast was as much a part of the daily habits of the preachers and the people 
as was the morning prayer. It is related that in an adjoining county one fine 
morning about the year 1811, a Presbyterian clergyman, an Elder in the church, 
and a Judge of the Court all chanced to meet, each with a gallon jug, which he 
had filled with whisky at the still-house of another Elder of the church, and it 
is said that the reason the other two judges who sat with the one mentioned 
were not also there was that they owned distilleries of their own and preferred 
their own brewing. The sin of intemperance then did not consist in the drink- 
ing, but in the getting drunk, and the distinction was preserved until within 
recent years. Lately, however, it is not made and temperance and teeto- 
talism are synonymous. 

Many of the settlers had been owners of slaves before emigrating, and had man- 

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INTRODUCTION. 

unfitted these after bringing them to Ohio. Others located land warrants in the 
Virginia Military District, and freeing their slaves placed them on the lands so 
secured. One notable case of this kind was that of one Samuel Gist, who own- 
ed a .great number of slaves and left a large estate. The slaves he freed, giving 
them certain tracts of land in Highland and Brown counties, and provided a 
fund to be handled by trustees for their assistance while clearing the lands and 
securing to themselves the benefits of freedom. The persons of this race brought 
to the county were therefore doubtless better than those remaining in slavery, 
and certainly had decided advantages in the means afforded to better their con- 
dition, but it is sad to relate that either from inherent mental weakness or con- 
stitutional perversity of disposition, they have failed miserably to meet the ex- 
pectation of their humanitarian friends. Almost without exception they have 
squandered the property given them and have sunk in two generations far 
lower in the scale than those now here who were freed by the general emanci- 
pation of 1863. It is not surprising, therefore, that the people of Highland 
county should have taken an interest in the slavery question. It was on the 
line of th 3 “Underground Rail way,” and regular stations were arranged where 
escaped slaves were received and provided for and hidden if necessary until 
they could be moved on to the next station, and so on until they were safely 
landed in Canada. So strong was this feeling that the Chillicothe Presbytery, 
which included this with a number of other counties, protested against the 
position taken by General Assembly on the question of slavery, holding that the 
Assembly was wrong in permitting communion and fellowship with persons 
owning slaves, and after many efforts to move that body, eventually declined to 
send commissioners to its meetings. Better counsels, however, prevailing, these 
ultra views were moderated to the extent of declining to sever connection with 
the body of the church, but protests and petitions were prepared and presented 
with constant persistency for many years. 

On the question of secret societies, this church gave forth no uncertain 
sound. A people who could discipline and suspend Elder William Wilson, of 
Rocky Spring Church, for “the improper use of the lot” in tossing a chip to de- 
cide which of two parties of men should first dine, would not be likely to look 
favorably on secret societies, and as early as 1831, they decided that a connection 
with the Masonic fraternity “was unlawful and inexpedient,” and in 1853 they 
resolved “that this Presbytery would again declare its opinion that Masonry 
and Odd Fellowship are unchristian and sinful in principle and practice,” and 
such remained the law until 1867, when it was modified to a statement of the 
the belief that “we have reason to fear there are some features in these socie- 
ties called religious, that do not harmonize with the gospel system, and there- 
fore we advise our church members to have no connection with them.” That 
the religious features of these societies do harmonize with the gospel system, or 
that people prefer those features to the gospel system is evident when it is con- 
sidered that both orders named are very strong in the county, the Masons having 
a few years since erected a handsome edifice for a temple, and the Odd Fellows 
having in its membership many of the best and most devoutly Christian 
citizens. 

The liberalising of the sentiments of the Presbyterians was not brought 
about without a great deal of earnest discussion on both sides, and the like ques- 
tions were met and discussed by other congregations, so that the changes in the 
one may be accepted as an example of all the religious bodies having churches 
in the county. Truly the world has advanced, when the General Assembly of 
the Presbyterian Church in the year of grace 1889, shall so concede the possibil- 
ity of error as to submit to the Presbyteries the question of the advisability of 



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INTRODUCTION . 



modifying the Confession of Faith on those tried and tested article^, election 
and justification. 

The Methodist Church was the church of the pioneer, and under the leader- 
ship of such men as Peter Cartwright it grew like a green bay tree until in 
numbers it far surpassed any other in the rural districts. While itineracy was 
common to all denominations in the early stages of the settlement of Ohio, it 
w T as not a part of the church discipline of any except this one; in all others the 
preacher being as quickly a& possible settled in charge of a single society. This 
and a missionary or proselyting spirit, combined with the practice of holding 
camp-meetings and “revivals,” and a more liberal church government, gave the 
Methodists an advantage over others. Quite a number of those who expounded 
the gospel in this section, and whose memory is yet held in respectful remem- 
brance, are mentioned by Scott in this volume. Owing to the transitory char- 
acter of their ministry, few of their successors are generally known to the pres- 
ent generation. 

In moral as well as material progression, Highland county has not been 
slothful. The appraisers of real estate in 1880 reported 101 church edifices in the 
county, of a value, including grounds, of $130, 220; and the decennial appraise- 
ment of 1890 will show an increase in number and value. No data is obtain- 
able from which to arrive at an estimate of the sum annually devoted to the 
maintenance of religion by the people of the county, but it is very large. This 
chapter might be extended to much greater length in the illustration 
of the proposition that the world has made very rapid and great strides toward 
a higher civilization during the last half of the Nineteenth Century. People are 
more intelligent, better educated, enjoy more of the comfort^ of life, and have 
more liberal habits of thought than they had fifty years ago. Their moral tone 
is more elevated, and their religion more charitable and humanitarian. The pro- 
gress made in labor-saving devices affords the farmers and residents of rural 
sections greater leisure time to devote to reading and study, and no longer is it 
customary to find the Bible, and an agricultural report or two, the only books 
in their libraries. The opportunities offered by the public school system for 
acquiring an education, and an ambition on the part of many youths to secure 
the still further advantages of the High Schools, have given the fanning popu- 
lation of the State a class of thinking men of advanced and progressive ideas. 
The majority of the people who settled Highland county were not constitution- 
ally energetic, and only necessity furnished the incentive to their labors. They 
have quickly taken advantage of the chances to shift the burden of continual 
toil and devote themselves to mental improvement. This disposition, and the 
character of the country, has led them largely to the raising of cattle, horses 
and sheep, and to the cultivation of orchards and the production of small fruits 
and vegetables. A tabulated statement of the amount and value of the annual 
productions of the county, and a comparison with surrounding counties, while 
it might be interesting, is not within the scope this chapter. It is sufficient to 
say that in all that goes to make up the sum of human happiness, the people of 
the county enjoy advantages equal, at least, to those of any other portion of the 
State. In closing, it may not be improper to add that while Daniel Scott 
might not have been willing to say with Horace, exegi monumentum acre per - 
enniws , he as little thought tb it his writings would prove a ver- 
itable store-house, from which every one who attempted a history of the county 
would draw liberally, and usually without rendering credit. The most brazen 
instance of this sort of theft is fou »d in a pretentious volume misnamed a “His- 
tory of Ross and Highland Couni ie3, Ohio/ ” published by Williams Bros., of 
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1880. There is scarcely an incident related in it of the 



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INTRODUCTION. 



early settlement of either county that is not stolen bodily and without credit, or 
garbled in an attempt to rewrite it, from Scott’s writings. AVhile his sketches 
remained in their scattered form, it may not have been considered a very great 
sin to steal from him, but now that these homeless waifs ot his brain have 
been gathered together and given an acknowledged parent, it is to be hoped 
that those who in future may write histories for pay, will have the courtesy to 
render credit to one who, though long since dead, lives in the memories of many 
who in his life-time respected him for his ability- as a writer and his care as a 
historian, and mourn him dead as a departed friend. 

' It. M. DITTEY. 

Hillsboro, Ohio, January 1st, 1890. v 






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V 



CHAPTER I. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF HANAHSTOWN — WHERE THE PIONEERS EMIGRATED 
FROM— PETER PATRICK’S ADVENTURE AND THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN 
THE STATE— SOMETHING OF THE MAGNITUDE OF THE ENTERPRISE AND 
DANGERS INCURRED BY THE EMIGRANTS WHO CAME BY THE OHIO — 
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF HIS ^ABORS TOLD BY COLONEL WILLIAM KEYS. 



T HE spirit of emigration, now so 
characteristic of the American peo- 
ple, had not manifested itself to any 
comparative extent, in the old thirteen 
States prior to the close of the Revolu- 
tion. Sufficient territory was contain- 
ed within their boundaries for the lim- 
ited agricultural purposes of the in- 
habitants, and, up to the period of the 
commencement of their troubles with 
the parent country, they seem to have 
been contented with the homes, which 
an occupancy by them and their ances- 
tors, of more than a hundred years, had 
rendered dear to their hearts. Most of 
these old States, it is true, had their 
border lines and their frontier settle- 
ments, which were comparatively new 
and exposed to the dangers incident to 
outposts bevond which extends the 
wilderness home of the treacherous 
and blood-thirsty savage. The stories 
of Indian warfare along the Susque- 
hanna and the massacre of the inhaoit- 
ants of the lovely valley of Wyoming, 
and other similar incidents in that 
beautiful but unfortunate region, have 
been recorded by the pen of the histori- 
an and embalmed in deathless verse of 
the poet; with them, therefore, the 
reader is of course familiar; at any rate 
they are not within our plan and can 
but merely be alluded to. All along 
the western boundary of Pennsylvania, 
the inhabitants never felt entirely free 
from danger until after Wayne defeat- 
ed the Indians in the summer of 1794. 
Only four years before this the Indians 
had made incursions as far as West- 
moreland county, and attacked a new 
settlement called Hanahstown on the 
Kiskiminias, a tributary of the Alle- 
ghany. The inhabitants had barely 
time to save themselves by flying to the 
block-house, leaving all their property 
behind them, which the savages delib- 
erately proceeded to burn, except what 
suited tneir purposes, which they saved. 
Feather beds, so highly prized by the 
oomfort-ioving Pennsylvanian, possess- 



ed no charms to the hardy sons of the 
forest. They collected all these togeth- 
er, ripped open the ticks and consigned 
the contents to the little river that 
flowed by. after which, with one pris- 
oner and a considerable drove of 
horses, heavily ladened with plunder, 
they made off, leaving the denizens of 
the once promising village of Hanahs- 
town utterly destitute— clothing, kitch- 
en furniture, farming utensils, grain, 
provisions— everything, including their 
houses, but themselves, their wives 
and children, was gone. So they had 
temporarily to break up the settlement 
and take the women and children back 
o their friends in the eastern part of 
he State. This is but one of many in- 
stances that could be given, illustrative 
of the school in which the pioneers of 
Kentucky and Ohio were trained; for 
most of those who first emigrated West 
were of this class— the frontier men of 
their own State. Only two years after 
the burning of Hanahstown several of 
the families who witnessed, from the 
block houses, the reckless destruction 
which left them homeless and destitute, 
emigrated to Kentucky. 

The history of the frontier of Virgin- 
ia is replete with incidents, few of 
which are inferior to'that just sketch- 
ed, whilst many of them furnish narra- 
tives of most thrilling interest and 
rarely paralleled by the highest- 
wrought pictures of romance. Wheel- 
ing, as an extreme outpost of civiliza- 
tion, was long the head quarters of the 
spies and Indian fighters, and the 
many stones of these bold and adven- 
turous backwoodsmen have long since 
passed from the guardianship of tradi- 
tion into the permanent historical re- 
cords of the . country, thus becoming 
the common property of all who have 
the power to read or the pride to ap- 
preciate the noble deeds of their coun- 
trymen and progenitors. A very 
large part of the early settlers of Ken- 
tucky was drawn from the border set- 

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2 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

tlements of Virginia. At a later its progress so stimulated the Indians 
period, however, many of thjem came that they evinced more hostility and a 



to Ohio and settled first in Chillicothe 
and its vicinity. 

Maryland, from her geographical posi- 
tion, had, so to speak, no frontiers, and 
though she furnished many hardy and 
worthy emigrants for the West, still 
they were comparatively few, and they 
had doubtless undergone a preparatory 
training in border life and outpost dan- 
ger, before their taste prompted them 
to seek new adventures in the wilder- 
ness before them. Comparatively few 
pioneers are therefore found hailing 
from the banks of the Patapsco or the 
shores of the Chesapeake, in the stations, 
and block houses, and among Indian 
fighters of the West. But North Caro- 
lina-— the sleepy old State as she is now 
called— was early animated by the rest- 
less promptings of the spirit "of adven- 
ture and emigration; and to the hum- 
ble and unpretending, though honest 
and true natives of the beautiful banks 
of the Yadkin are the inhabitants of 
the old State indebted for a knowledge 
of the Wealth, grandeur and fertility 
ol the cane clad plains of Kentucky. 
As early as 1771, Boone and his com- 
panions had explored these fascinating 
regions— this paradise of the hunter, so 
heroically battled for, and so reluctant- 
ly surrendered by the Indians. The 
fame of this bright land of promisq 
spread rapidly over the surrounding 
States. Boone returned with a consid- 
erable colony of his neighbors and 
formed a settlement on the Kentucky 
River, others followed him soon after, 
and a rapidly growing inclination in 
Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, 
New Jersey and Virginia, as well as in 
North Carolina, promised speedily to 
swell the population of this new 
Caanan to a number fully adequate to 
cope with the determined hostility of 
the Indians, but the increasing trou- 
bles between the Colonies and England, 
which portended to the minds of all 
the inevitable result, for a time check- 
ed emigration, and the final maturing 
of all dormant troubles in open war, 
rivited the attention of every one. 
The patriots who were active and 
able-bodied hurried to the standard of 
' Washington, and the aged, the infirm 
and the women and children clung 
closer to the old homestead. Some ten 
or upwards years thus intervened be- 
tween the commencement of the set- 
tlements on the Kentucky River, and 
the revival of emigration after the 
peace of 1783. The existence of the 
Revolution did not necessarilyentirely 
precluded emigration to the West, but 



deeper determination to exterminate 
the white settlements, and the alarm 
become so great that none but such ae 
were constrained by a sense of a higher 
duty to their country, could have dared 
to venture West to the new settle- 
ments, not even to rescue those that 
had been made. But when the war 
with Great Britain closed the Indians- 
to some extent relaxed their hostilities 
and a desire to settle in the far famed 
“garden of the world,’* again revived. 
Shortly aftei the dose of the war the 
Legislature of Virginia authorized cer- 
tain officers of both the Continental 
and State lines' to appoint superintend- 
ents on behalf of their respective lines; 
and also to name two principal survey- 
ors who were authorized to select their 
own deputies. Col. Richard C. Ander- 
son was elected principal surveyor for 
the Continental line, and in the spring 
of 1784 moved to Louisville and opened 
a land office. 

About this time a few settlers in 
small parties ventured the passage 
down the Ohio River to Limestone. 
But the danger was still imminent and 
many set out on the journey who fell 
into the snares of the wily and blood- 
thirsty Indian, long ere thfey reached 
the haven of theirhopes. As soon as 
the Indians discovered that the river 
was likely to become the principal 
thoroughfare of emigration, they kept 
constantly on the watch along its 
northern banks. There were neither 
settlements, nor 'stations or military 
posts at any point on the northern side 
below the Pennsylvania line. Y et such 
was the anxiety to possess the rich 
lands of the West that not only men, 
but women and children, ventured up- 
on the hazardous voyage as early as 
1785. In April of that year, four fami- 
lies from Redstone in Pennsylvania, 
descended the Ohio in safety to the 
mouth of the Scioto, and there moored 
their boat under the bank where Ports- 
mouth now stands. They commenced 
clearing the ground to plant seeds for a 
crop. Soon after they landed the four 
men started up the Scioto prospecting, 
leaving thq women and children at the 
encampment. They traversed the 
beautiful bottoms of the river as far 
up as where Piketon now stands. One 
of them named Peter Patrick, pleased 
with the country, cut his initials on a 
beech near the bank of a creek that 
flows through a prairie, which being 
found in after times, gave the name of 
Pee Pee to the creek. Encamped near 
the site of Piketon, they were surprised 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 3 



by a party of Indians, who killed two 
of them as they lay by their fires. The 
other two escaped to the Ohio, where 
fortunately they saw a small boat pass- 
ing. This they succeeded in boarding, 
and having takep their women and 
children, abandoned the project of 
making a settlement on the Ohio side. 
During the following autumn a de- 
tachment of United States troops, un- 
der the command of Maj. John Dough- 
ty, commenced the erection, and the 
next year finished Fort Harraer on the 
right bank of the Muskingum at its 
junction with the Ohio, This was the 
first military post erected by Ameri- 
cans on the north side of the river in 
what is now the State of Ohio. But 
this by no means furnished a protect- 
ion to emigrants descending the river 
beyond its immediate vicinity. Every 
device within the range of savage in- 
genuity was resorted to by the ever 
watchful Indians in hopes to induce 
boats to land on the northern shore, and 
too frequently they succeeded and thus 
gratified their fiendish thirst for the 
blood of the white man. 

As an evidence of the magnitude of 
the undertaking and the dangers in- 
curred by emigrants descending the 
Ohio at this early day, the following 
sketch from the pen of the Rev. James 
B. Finley, descriptive of the departure 
from their old home and perilous pass- 
age down the river of his fathers fam- 
ily and others on their way to Ken- 
tucky. It will remind the reader of 
the departure of the Pilgrims from 
Delft-Haven on board the ships May- 
flower and Speedwell, under charge of 
the Patriarch Brewster, nearly two 
hundred years before, in view of whom 
lay the broad Atlantic with all the 
dangers and terrors of a three months’ 
voyage. Finley says: “I shall never 
forget the deep-thrilling and interest- 
ing scene which occurred at parting— 
this was in the autumn of 1788. Min- 
isters and people were collected togeth- 
er and after an exhortation and the 
singing of a hymn they all fell upon 
their knees and engaged in ardent sup- 
plication to God that the emigrants 
might be protected amid the perils of 
the wilderness. I felt, says Mr. Finley, 
as though we were taking leave of the 
world. After mingling together our 
tears and prayers the boats were loosed 
and floated out into the waters of the 
' beautiful Ohio. It was a hazardous 
undertaking; but such was the insatia- 
ble desire to inherit those rich lands 
and enjoy the advantages of the wide- 
spreading cape-breaks, that many were 
the adventurers; and although many 



lost their lives and others all they pos- 
sessed, ypt it did not for a moment de- 
ter others from the undertaking. The 
Indians, jealous of the white man and 
fearful of losing their immense and 
profitable hunting grounds, from the 
great tide of emigration which was 
constantly pouring in upon them, were 
wrought up to toe highest pitch of 
fury, and determined to guard, as far as 
possible, both passes t6 it; namely the 
Ohio River and the old Crab Orchard 
Road, or Boone’s old trace, leading 
from the southern portion of Kentucky 
to North Carolina. They attacked all 
boats they had any probability of being 
able to take, using all the strategy of 
which they were masters, to decoy them 
to the shore. Many boats wefe taken 
and many lives lost through the deceit 
and treachery of the Indians and white 
spies employed by them. The day on 
which the emigrants started was pleas- 
ant and all nature seemed to smile up- 
on the pioneer band. They had made 
every preparation they deemed neces- 
sary to defend themselves from the at- 
tack of their wily foe9. The boat 
which led the way as pilot was well 
manned and armed, on which sentinels, 
relieved by turns, kept watch day and 
night. Then followed two other boats 
at a convenient distance. While float- 
ing down they frequently saw Indians 
on the banks watching for an opportu- 
nity to make an attack. Jqst below 
the mouth of the great Scioto a long 
and desperate effort was made to get 
some of the boats to land by a white 
man, who feigned to be in great dis- 
tress, but the fate of Mr. Orr and his 
familv was too fresh in the minds of 
the adventurers to be thus decoyed. A 
few months previous to this time this 
gentleman and his whole family were 
murdered, being lured ashore by a sim- 
ilar stratagem. But a few weeks before 
we passed the Indians attacked three 
boats, two of which were taken and all 
the passengers killed. The other barely 
escaped, having lost all the men on 
board except Rev. Mr. Tucker, a Meth- 
odist missionary, on his way to Ken- 
tucky. Mr. Tucker was wounded in 
many places but fought manfully. 
The Indians got into a canoe and pad- 
died for the boat, determined to board 
it; but the women loaded the rifles of 
their deceased husbands and handed 
them to Mr. Tucker, who took such 
deadly aim, every shot making the 
number in the canoe less, that they 
abandoned all hope of reaching the 
boat and returned to the shore. After 
the conflict this noble man fell from 
sheer exhausation and the women 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



were obliged to take the oars and man- 
age the boat as best they could. They 
were enabled to effect a landing at 
Limestone, now Maysville; and a few 
days after their protector died of his 
wounds and they followed him weep- 
ing to the grave. But to resume our 
narrative. Being too well posted in In- 
dian strategy to be decoyed, we pursued 
our journey unmolested. Nothing re 
markable occurred save the death of 
my much-beloved grand-mother. The 
day before we landed at Limestone she 
took her mystic flight to a better world. 
Her remains were committed to the 
dust at Maysville and Rev. Cary Allen 
preached her funeral. In company 
with rpy father and in his boat there 
were two missionaries — Revs. Cary 
Allen and Robert Marshall. ,, 

The reader has doubtless perceived 
the reason for thus particularly pre- 
senting the character and habits of 
pioneer inhabitants of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, and the difficulties and 
dangers through which they passed, in 
reaching the place of their new homes 
in the West. Few or none of the first 
Settlers of Ohio, though mostly, if not 
all natives of Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Virginia and North Carolina came di- 
rect from those States to Ohio. They 
first settled in Kentucky, while those 
who came from the old States, some 
ten or twelve years later, settled at 
Chillicothe. Of these latter, one Wil- 
liam Craig, an emigrant with his fami- 
ly traveling to Chillicothe by wagon, 
struck upon Zane’s trace, marked the 
fall before (1786) from Wheeling to 
Maysville. This was merely a blazed 
route through the woods. It, however, 
was a guide to Chillicothe, and Craig 
determined to follow it, and he did so 
for a distance of seventy miles by cut- 
ting a way for his wagon. This was a 
most tedious undertaking for one man, 
encumbered with a wagon, team and 
family, but he persevered and had in 
the end the satisfaction of landing 
safely at the encampment called Chil- 
licothe. 

To give an idea of the difficulty en- 
countered by emigrants from the old 
States,i about eight years later, the fol- 
lowing extract is made from material* 
furnished for this history by Col. Wil- 
liam Keys of this place, which is very 
similar to the history of the emigration 
of many more old settlers of Highland. 
He says: It seems to me that in order 
to have a correct idea of the labors and 
extreme danger we had to encounter in 
settling Highland county and other 
parts of the State, we ought to take in- 
to account the trouble, toil and fatigue 



we had to undergo in moving to it. 
When we take into consideration the 
then state and condition of the roads 
over the mountains and hills, the great 
want of bridges and ferries over water 
courses, we can have some conception 
of the extreme difficulty of traveling 
over the almost impassable route from 
the old settlements to Ohio at that 
early day. Turnpikes, railroads and 
steam boats were not then in existence; 
and the roads over the mountains were 
the most difficult wagon ways conceiv- 
able— without grading— ruts, gutters, 
mudholes and other obstacles, never 
mended, and being a hilly, broken and 
uneven mountainous country, made it 
toilsome in the extreme. 

An intelligent lady being requested 
by a friend to furpish her with a re- 
ceipt for the best method to dress a 
hare for the table, complied and com- 
menced her receipt by saying, “the first 
thing to be done in the matter was to 
catch the hare ” It seems to me equal- 
ly necessary in order to give our suc- 
cessors and posterity an adequate idea 
of the extreme labor in settling Ohio, 
we ought to recapitulate the toil, fa- 
tigue and drudgery of traveling ty our 
wild woods home in the West. The 
lady above alluded to seemed to have a 
clear view of her undertaking. She 
knew the persons who would be engag- 
ed in feasting on the delicate and well 
dressed morsel, when on the table, 
would never think of the labor and 
trouble of catching it. So the descend- 
ants of the early settlers, and the pres- 
ent occupants of our well improved 
farms, our beautiful towns, our com- 
modious churches, school houses, court 
house, excellent flouring mills, &c., will' 
hardly turn a thought in the direction 
of the toil, drudgery and hardships of 
those laborious men who leveled the 
forests and opened up the farms. I 
will, therefore, give a short sketch of 
the trials of our company over the 
mountains, believing a correct account 
of our own travels will equally well 
describe the hardships of many others. 

We took our journey from the valley 
of the Old Dominion in September, A. 
D. 1805, with a strong team, large wagon 
and a heavy load. We proceeded on 
our way over the Alleghany mountains, 
Gi*eenbrier hills, Sewell and Gauley 
mountains, Kanawha rivers and back- 
water creeks, often impassable by the 
rising, of the river, and arrived at Point 
Pleasant, where we crossed the Ohio 
and left most of our troubles behind us. 
Our company consisted of two family 
connections, each of which were sub- 
divided into one or two smaller fami- 



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' A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 5 



lies; and to give promise of a fair be- 
ginning, each of them had an infant 
specimen of young America to carry on 
the knee, and numbering twenty-three 
persons in all, eight of whom were full 
grown men. We often had to exert all 
our united strength and skill to prevent 
our wagons from upsetting, and had 
often to double teams in order to ascend 
the steep mountain sides. None of 
our company met with any accident, 
but not so with all the emigrants who 
preceded us on the same route; we 
sometimes passed the fragments of 
broken wagon beds, broken furniture 
and remnants of broken boxes and other 
marks of damage by upsetting on the 
mountain side, where the wagon, team 
and all had rolled over and over down 



the steep declivity, for some rods, until 
stopped by the intervention of some 
trees too stout to be prostrated by the 
mass of broken fragments. By doub- 
ling teams, we could reach the moun- 
tain top, but to get safely down again 
called for other contrivances. One ex- 
pedient frequently tried was to fasten 
a pretty stout pine tree to the axletree 
of the wagon with chains, so as to re- 
tard the downward course upon the 
horses. At foe foot of such hills and 
mountains could be seen sundry such 
trees that had been dragged down for 
the purpose above named. We arrived 
at our Highland home in about eight 
weeks, constant travel, Sundays except- 
ed. 



, 0 

CHAPTER II. 

THE FRENCH DOMINION, WITH A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE SUBSEQUENT CON- 
TESTS AND CESSIONS WHICH FINALLY BROUGHT THE TERRITORY OF OHIO 
UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES— SIMON KENTON’S CAPTURE 
AND ESCAPE — THE STORY OF JOSHU£ FLEETHART — THE FIRST PERMA- 
NENT SETTLEMENT IN THE STATE AT MARIETTA. 



T HE beauty and fertility of the Ter- 
ritory of which our county was a 
part, were unknown to Europeans 
until the adventurous spirit of French 
missionaries and traders discovered 
them. They early and fearlessly plung- 
ed into the pathless wilderness of the 
West and exhibited a courage and per- 
severance without a parallel— the one 
the meek and patient apostles of Christ, 
the other the cunning and unscrupulous 
worshipers of mammon. Each, howev- 
er, saw and concurred in the importance 
of this comparatively unknown region, 
as an appendage to the Canadian 
possessions of their native country. On 
the suggestions thus made, France de- 
termined to lay the foundation in the 
Mississippi Valley of an Empire which 
should ultimately surpass not only in 
extent of territory, but in grandeur and 
power, the British possessions on the 
East. In furtherance of this purpose, 
these lines of communication between 
Canada and the Mississippi were form- 
ed, and posts, religious, military and for 
trading purposes, established at suitable 
distances from each other. They had 
explored the greater part of the Miss- 
issippi in canoes and made themselves 



familiar with the adjacent country, but 
a permanent settlement at the mouth 
of this river was deemed indispensable 
to the success of the grand scheme of 
the Empire. Accordingly an expedition 
was fitted out by the French Govern- 
ment, for the express purpose of estab 1 
lishing a colony at the mouth of the 
Mississippi river, which had not yet 
been discovered. This expedition was 
placed under the command of M. 
D’Iberville, who, in March, 1698, entered 
the mouth of the Mississippi and took 
formal possession of all the territory 
drained by it in the name of Louis XIV. 
of France, to which was given the name 
of Louisiana. This territory embraced 
all between the Alleghany and Rocky 
Mountains, and of course included - 
what is now Ohio. The French pushed 
on their ambitious enterprise with 
great energy. Their plan seems, how- 
ever, to have been chiefly to monopolize 
the trade of the natives. The jealousy 
of the English on the other side of the 
mountains soon became aroused, for 
they claimed the same territory. A 
trading company, called the Ohio Com- 
pany, was organized as early as 1748, 
the object of which was to secure the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



lucrative traffic of the nativesof the 
country now embraced within the lim- 
its of our State. This company sent 
out agents to negotiate with the 
Indians and open the way for a perma- 
nent trade. These agents were Chris- 
topher Gist and George Oroghan, who 
penetrated the wilderness as far as the 
Indian town of Piqua on the waters of 
the Miami. Three years afterwards 
the French having heard of this house, 
sent a party of soldiers to the Indians 
and demanded the traders as intruders 
upon French lands. The Indians re- 
fused to deliver up their friends. The 
French then attacked the English trad- 
ing houses and after a severe battle, in 
which a' number of the combatants 
were killed andjnany others wounded, 
took and destroyed it, carrying away 
the traders to Canada. Such was the 
fate of the first British settlement in 
Ohio. The next year, W ashington, then 
a youth of 22 years, was sent out by the 
Government of Virginia with letters of 
remonstrance to the French command- 
ant. Washington passed through a 
good part of what is now Ohio, in the 
execution of this mission, and arrived 
at the end of his journey a few miles 
south of Lake lErie. A short time 
revious to this the Governor of Canada 
ad sent M. de Bienville at the head pf 
three hundred men to the banks ot the 
Ohio to court the favor of the Indians, 
and publish the claim of France to the 
territory. He distributed presents with 
a lavish hand among the natives and 
earnestly warned them against trading 
with the English. He traversed the 
greater part of the territory and nailed 
leaden plates to treps and buried others 
in the earth at the confluence of the 
Ohio and its tributaries, bearing in- 
scriptions to the effect that all lands on 
both sides of the rivers to their sources 
belonged to the crown of France. Ne- 
gotiations having failed to adjust the 
respective claims of the two nations to 
the Mississippi Valley, a war ensued 
which resulted in the conquest by the 
English of the French possessions in 
America, which was finally acknowl- 
edged by a treaty in 1763, The terri- 
tory which is now Ohio thus ceased for- 
ever to be a part of the province of 
Louisiana and an appendage to the 
crown of France. 

From this period on, at intervals, 
military expeditions from east of the 
mountains, traversed the forests of 
Ohio, to negotiate treaties, protect trad- 
ing posts, recover prisoners and chas- 
tise the Indians. In 1774 Lord Dun- 
more made a treaty with the Indians in 
what is now Pickaway county. 



The western Indians were more or 
less united against the Americans dur- 
ing the whole of the Revolution, and 
many expeditions from Pennsylvania, 
Virginia and Kentucky penetrated the 
forests or the territory in pursuit of 
them as far as the Miami. In 1782 
Gen. Clark, of Kentucky, led an expedi- 
tion against Shawneetown, Upper and 
Lower Piqua, and destroyed them. 

After; the Colonies renounced their 
allegiance to the British king, England 
by an act of Parliament passed in 1777 
annexed the whole of the North-west- 
ern Territory to, and made it a part of 
the province of Quebec. This claim of 
the English monarch to what is now 
our State, was ceded to the United 
States by the treaty of 1783 and the 
Mississippi river made the western 
boundary of the United States. The 
year following, the State of Virginia 
ceded to the United States the right of 
soil and jurisdiction to the district of 
country embraced in her charter situ- 
ated north-west of the river Ohio. Two 
years after, Connecticut also ceded her 
claim, which covered a portion of what 
is now the State of Ohio. Numerous 
tribes of Indians also had claims to the 
soil within the present limits of Ohio, 
which the General Government had to 
purchase prior to the commencement of 
settlements. Accordingly treaties were 
made in JL784 and 1785, by which the 
Indians ceded their claims to all the 
southern and eastern portions of the 
resent State. The Indian title having 
een thus extinguished, the legisla- 
tive action of Congress became necessa- 
ry before settlements were commenced. 
In May, 1785, Congress passed an ordi- 
nance for ascertaining the best mode of 
disposing of these lands. Under this 
ordinance the first lands were survey- 
ed and put into market that were sold 
in the territory. These surveys were 
limited on the east by the Pennsylvania 
line and on the south by the Ohio river. 
In 1787 a considerable quantity of these 
lands were sold, but no further sales 
were made until 1801. 

Ten years before these first land sales, 
Daniel Boone had passed through Ohio 
a prisoner to the Indians, and noted its 
beauty, fertility and natural resources. 
A few months afterwards Simon Ken- 
ton, weary of a few weeks’ inaction, 
resolved upon an expedition to the 
Indian towns on the waters of Scioto, 
for the purpose of getting horses from 
the Indians. Alexander Montgomery 
and George Clark joined him. They 
crossed the Ohio and proceeded cau- 
tiously to what is now called Frankfort, 
in Ross county. They fell in with a 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 7 



fine drove of horses feeding near the 
town, and being prepared with salt and 
halters, succeeded in catching seven of 
them. They then dashed off with all 
speed to the Ohio river, which they 
struck near the mouth of Eagle creek, 
but owing to a hard wind the waves 
were running so high that they could 
not get the horses to take water, and 
were therefore most reluctantly com- 
pelled to remain on the bank all night 
or aba&don their prize. 

The Indians pursued and overtook 
them the next morning, killed Craw- 
ford and took Kenton prisoner, while 
Clark made his escape. They stripped 
Kenton and tied him fast to a wild 
horse, which they turned loose. After 
it had run about, plunging, rearing and 
kicking for some time" and becomer sat- 
isfied that it could not get rid of its 
burden, it submitted an<J followed the 
cavalcade, which, passing from tyie 
mouth of Eagle creek to the north 
fork of Paint, must have gone through 
where Winchester now stands in Adams 
county, and Marshall and Rainsboro, in 
this county. Kenton also traveled the 
same route with his drove bf stolen 
horses, for which he came near losing 
his life at the stake. Fortunately for 
him the celebrated renegade white man, 
Simon Girty, was at the Indian towns, 
and he and Kfcnton having been raised 
boys together, he interposed to save 
him, ana Kenton ultimately returned 
to Kentucky. 

[Note— T his account leaves a wrong im- 

S ression on the mind ot the reader. It is 
rue that Simon Girty. when he recognized 
Kenton upon the latter’s arrival at the 
Indian village of Waugh cotomoco, did in- 
terfere in his behalf ana had the sentence of 
death reversed, and for three weeks treated 
him with uniform kindness, but distant 
chiefs arriving Glrty’s influence was of no 
avail, and again Kenton was condemned to 
death at the stake, Sandusky being the place 
fixed upon for the execution. There, how- 
ever, an Indian Agent named Druyer 
rescued him and conveyed him a prisoner to 
Detroit, where he remained from October, 
1777, until June, 1778, when he escaped from 
the British. 

“Thus,” says a celebrated writer, “terminat- 
ed one of the most remarkable adventures in 
the whole range of western history. A 
fatalist would recognize the hand of destiny 
in every stage of its progress. He was eight 
times exposed to the gauntlet, three times 
tied to the stake, and as often thought him- 
self upon' the eve of a terrible death. 

All the sentences passed upon him. whether 
of mercy or condemnation, sqemea to*have 
only been pronounced in one council to be 
reversed in another: every friend that Provi- 
dence raised up in his favor, was immediately 
followed by some enemy, who unexpectedly 
interposed, and turned his short glimpse of 
suhshlne into deeper darkness. For three 
weeks he was see-sawing between life and 
death, and durlngthe whole time he was per- 
fectly passive. No wisdom, or foresight, or 
exertion could have saved him. Fortune 
fought his battle from first to last, and seem- 



ed determined to permit nothing else to in- 
terfere.”— E d. 1 

In 1782 Col. Crawford led a company 

the Wyandotte towns. On th^fth of 
June he met the enemy and suffered a 
/most disastrous defeat. Crawford was 
taken prisoner and burned. Gen. G. R. 
Clark shortly afterwards led a company 
of about fifteen hundred Kentuckians 
against the Indian towns on the Miami, 
which they burned, having killed a 
large number of Indians and taken 
thirty or forty prisoners. Four years 
afterwards Col. Logan led about seven 
hundred men from the neighborhood of 
Washington, Kentucky, against the 
Pickaway towns, to chastise the Indians 
for horse-stealing. They crossed the* 
Ohio at Limestone, and very probably 
passed through what is now Highland. 
This expedition succeeded in destroying 
two towns, killing a number of Indians 
and .making prisoners of many more. 
This little army met no further resist- 
ance in marching through the Indian 
country. They burned four other towns, 
and destroyed their corn and every- 
thing that belonged to them 

For more than forty years that por- 
tion of the North-western Territory, 
now Ohio, had been traversed and ex- 
plored by the hardy and heroic frontier 
men of Pennsylvania, Virginia and 
Kentucky. The Indians also, either 
in their insatiable thirst for the blood 
of the pioneer settlers, or in pursuit of 
game, were almost constantly, except 
in the dead of winter, traversing the 
country between the lake and the Ohio. 

Occasionally a bold hunter would 
cautiously penetrate within their 
ranges toward the close of autumn, 
and, after preparing a comfortable camp, 
remain and trap and hunt until spring. 
Sometimes small companies of two or 
more, would occupy the same camp, as 
it was known that the Indians were also 
in the habit of thus spending their 
winters, and not unfrequently, if they 
discovered an encampment ot white 
hunters and trappers, they would keep 
a watch on them till they believed they 
had about got through with their win- 
ter’s sport and collected all their peltry, 
then surprise their camp, kill the hunt- 
ers and appropriate the booty. 

A story is told of one Joshua Fleet- 
hart, of Western Virginia, who was em- 
ployed by the Ohio Company in 1788 as 
a scout and hunter, in which capacity 
he had no superior north of the Ohio. 
At times even, when the Indians were 
known to be most hostile towards the 
whites, he would start from the settle- 
ment with no companion but his dog, 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



and ranging within about twenty miles 
of an Indian town, would build his camp 
and trap and hunt nearly the whole 
season. On one occasion this reckless 
contempt of danger almost cost him his 
life. . Anxious for a good hunt he took 
his canoe, rifle, traps and blanket, and 
without even the companionship of his 
dog, started late in the fall down the 
river to the mouth of the Scioto, up 
which he pushed his canoe, till he reach- 
ed a j>oint within twenty-five miles of 
the/ Indian town of Chillicothe. Being 
in the midst of the best hunting grounds 
of the Indians, he fixed his camp and 
for ten or twelve weeks trapped and 
hunted in this solitary region unmolest- 
ed. He hunted the bear on the Brush- 
creek hills where they were then most 
abundant, and the beaver in the small 
streams that fell into the Scioto. He 
met with fine success and lived in most 
luxurious style on roasted beaver tails 
washed down with bear’s oil. Thus 
quietly and pleasantly passed away the 
winter, until about the middle of Feb- 
ruary. He then began preparations for 
returning to the settlement, by making 
up his peltries into packages, which he 
loaded in his canoe. The day he had 
fixed for his departure he was discover- 
ed and fired upon by Indians, one of 
whom he killed, and after a long chase 
he managed to baffle them, and get to 



the canoe, which he launched and floated 
out safely into the Ohio. „ 

The first permanent settlement was 
made at" Marietta on the 7th day of 
April, 1788. It* consisted of forty-eight 
men under the superintendence of Gen- 
Rufus Putnam, no less than eleven of 
whom were Revolutionary officers and 
quite a number of the remainder had 
been soldiers in that war. The atten- 
tion of Gen. Putnam had been turned to 
the Ohio Valley by Gen. Washington 
during those dark and almost hopeless 
times, while the triumph of the British 
seemed almost inevitable. Washington 
some times spoke of the West as a place 
of retreat in case of defeat, and no aoubt 
considered the scheme of independence 
as feasible if 'their worst apprehensions 
should be realized. The next perma- 
nent settlement in the present State of 
Ohio, was made in what is now Hamil- 
ton county, at the mouth of the Little 
Miami, by a party of eighteen men led 
by Benjamin Stites, who landed in No- 
vember. 1788. At this point they con- 
structed a log fort and laid out the town 
of Columbia. The next settlement was 
made at Gallipolis, in 1791. A settle- 
ment was also made by Gen. Massie, at 
Manchester, the same year, but owing 
to the hostility of the Indians, none 
were made in the interior for some years 
after. 



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CHAPTER III. 



THE HEROIC AGE OF THE WEST— CAPTAIN JAMES TRIMBLE— THE BATTLE AT 
THE POINT— DANIEL GREATHOUSE AND THE MASSACRE AT BAKERS’ BLOCK- 
HOUSE— ST. CLAIR’S EXPEDITION. 



T HE heroic age of the West embraces a 
period of about forty years, between 
the breaking out of the last French 
and Indian war in 1755 and Way ne’s trea- 
ty with the Indians in 1795, Settlements 
.were not commenced in Kentucky, it is 
true, until ten years after the conquest 
of the French possessions by the English; 
but the border lines of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia were the scenes of almost con- 
stant warfare, and were thus made the 
school in which the early emigrants to 
Kentucky and Ohio were trained into 
heroes, unequaled, perhaps, in any age 
or country. Without such a develop- 
ment of courage and hardihood in the 
early emigrants, Kentucky never could 
have been settled. For near twenty-five 
years her inhabitants were soldiers, 
ready at all times to engage in deadly 
strife with the savage foe. Their rifle 
was their inseparable companion, 
whether beside their own hearth stone, 
in their fields at work, or attending 
preaching on Sunday. Their constant 
and untiring enemy was ever lurking 
about and dogging their steps on all 
occasions, and forced them to become 
more of the soldier than citizen. Many 
of them were carried into captivity, not 
only from Kentucky but from Virginia, 
and after untold sufferings escaped and 
became again the bold and manly de- 
fenders of their friends and homes. 
Many of these border warriors and! dar- 
ing Indian hunters became citizens of 
Ohio and Highland when the first settle- 
ments were made; and many of them 
had been soldiers and heroes in the Rev- 
olution ; while those of the first settlers 
who had neither been revolutionary 
soldiers nor border soldiers, were their 
children and descendants, worthy, when 
necessity called them to act, the names 
they bore. 

One of the early adventurers and ex- 
plorers of our State was Captain James 
Trimble, of Woodford county, Kentucky, 
whither he had emigrated from Augusta 
county, Virginia, in 1783. Many of his 
descendants are now living in Highland; 
his eldest son, Gov. Allen Trimble, with 



his widowed mother and family having 
emigrated and settled on Clear Creek at 
an early day. Capt. Trimble’s history, 
if detailed, would be a wild and thrilling 
romance, though differing in no essential 
point from^that of hundreds of his com- 
patriots, of adventures and daring enter- 
prise, as could be well imagined by the 
present votary of ease, luxury and" con- 
tentment in these “piping times of 
peace.” 

At the age of 14 years, the quiet and 
pleasant home of his father, in Augusta 
county, Virginia, was attacked by a pred-' 
atory band of Indians, led by Dickinson, 
a half breed. His father, an aged man, 
was killed and scalped, while himself 
and sister, Mrs. Mary Estell, and a black 
boy were made prisoners. The Indians 
then, with much plunder, made their 
retreat to the head waters of Kanawha. 
The half brother to Capt. Trimble, Col. 
George Moffit, raised a party of twelve 
or fifteen men and pursued. The party 
came upon the Indian encampment by 
surprise, killed several of the Indians 
and rescued all the prisoners. One of 
the party, a Mr. Russel, was shot two 
days afterwards by Dickinson, who had 
followed their trail, and picked him off 
while loitering behind. He got into 
camp, however, and was carried home 
on a litter, where he recovered. This 
occurred about the year 1770. 

These frequent massacres and depre- 
dations by the Indians upon the settlers 
of Western Virginia, called for vengeance, 
and Gov. Dunmore organized a strong 
military force for an expedition against 
the Ohio tribes. 

[Note.— This was not the cause of the war. 
From the peace made with the Indians by 
Sir William Johnston, at the German Flatts, 
on the Mohawk river, in 1764, until the spring 
of 1774, there was no Indian War on the Ohio 
river. On the 27th of April, 1774, Captain 
Cresap, at the head of a party of men, at 
Wheeling, Virginia, heard of two Indians 
and some of their families being up the river 
hunting, not many miles off; Cresap and his 
party followed them, and killed them, with- 
out pro vocation, in cold blood and in profound 
peace ! After committing these murders, on 
their return to Wheeling that night, in their 
bloody canoes, they heard of an Indian en- 
campment down the river, at the mouth of 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



Captina creek, and immediately went, at* 
tacked and murdered all these Indians. 
After these unprovoked and cruel murders, a 
party under Daniel Greathouse, forty-seven 
in number, we believe, ascended the river 
above Wheeling, about forty miles, to Baker’s 
station. which was opposite the mouth of 
Great Yellow creek. There, keeping his men 
out of the sight of the Indians, Captain Great- 
house went over the river to reconnoitre the 
ground, and to ascertain how many Indians 
were there. He fell in with an Indian 
woman, who advised him not to stay among 
them, as the Indians were drinking ana 
angry. On receiving this friendly advice, he 
returned over to Baker’s block house, and be 
induced the persons at the station to entice 
over all the Indians they could that day and 
get them drunk. This diabolical stratagem 
succeeded, many of the Indians came over, 
got drunk, and were slain by the party oi 
Greathouse. Hearing the guns, two Indians 
came over to Baker’s to see what the firing of 
the guns meant. These were slain as soon as 
they landed. By this time the Indians at 
their camp, suspecting what was going on at 
Baker’s, sent over an armed force, but these 
were fired upon while on the river, and 
Several of them killed. The survivors were 
compelled to return to their encampment. 
A firing of guns then commenced across the 
river, but not one of the whites was even 
wounded. Amon& the murdered was the 
woman who gave the captain the friendly 
advice ; and they were all scalped who were 
slain. Among the murdered at Captina and 
» Yellow creek, was the entire family of Logan, 
the friend of the whites. Kno wi ng that these 
cruel and unprovoked murders would be 
speedily avenged by the Indians, all the 
whites along the whole western frontier eith- 
er left the country instantly, or retired into 
their block houses and forts. An express was 
sent to the Govemorof Virginia at Williams- 
burgh, the seat of government, to inform him 
what had happened. The colonial legislature 
was In session, and means was immediate- 
ly used to commence a campaign against the 
Indians, and penetrate into the heart of their 
country on the Scioto river. 

. This cruel and unprovoked barbarity on the 
part of the whites drove Logan, who had 
been a friend of the whites, to war, and it 
was on the occasion of the Council near 
Circleville that Logan prepared his celebrat- 
ed speech, which was delivered by proxy to 
Lord Dunmore. There is a tradition that 
Daniel Greathouse was afterward captured 
by the Indians when descending the Ohio, 
and tortured to death, with all the barbarity 
which the devilish ingenuity of the savages 
could conceive of. as a punishment for his part 
in this bloody slaughter. Some of bis de- 
scendants still live in this county.— En.l 
Gen. Andrew Lewis had command of 
the troops from Augusta and Rockbridge 
counties and moved in a direct route for 
the mouth of the great Kanawha, while 
the Governor with a detachment of 
troops from Lower Virginia and Penn- 
sylvania pursued on through the valley 
of Cheat river and the little Kanawha, 
to unite with Lewis at the “Point,” now 
Point Pleasant. In Gen Lewis* detach- 
ment was found young Trimble — four 
years after his captivity by the Indians 
— burning to avenge the cruel death of 
his father. The company to which he 
belonged was commanded by Captain, 
afterwards Gen. George Mathews. The 
division under Lewis reached the point 
of rendezvous, but Dunmore did not ar- 



rive in time for the battle. 

On the 10th day of October, 1774, the 
Indians having crossed the river about 
two miles above the Point, silently and 
unobserved, passed down until they 
were within a few hundred yards of the 
encampment, before they were discover- 
ed by two men who had started out for 
an early hunt. The attack was immedi- 
ately made by a formidable Indian band 
of upwards of twelve hundred warriors 
led by Logan and Cornstalk, and contin- 
ued without cessation until the darkness 
of night obscured the hard contested 
held. Alternately through the day 
victory seemed to perch upon the tow- 
ering form of Logan, whose manly, 
heroic voice could be heard amidst the 
din of battle, .urging his men to the fight. 
The whites fought with desperation; 
often driven into their encampment, 
and there rallying, would press the fo© 
to the verge of the river hill. This was 
doubtless the most sanguinary battle 
ever fought with the Indians' on the 
continent, and was fatal to many a gal- 
lant youth of Lewis’ brigade. The 
whites finally repulsed the brave and 
determined enemy and drove them 
across the river with a loss on both sides 
of more than a third of all engaged, in 
killed, besides a large number wounded. 
The Indians made good their retreat to 
their towns on the Scioto and Musking- 
um. 

[None- -John A. Trimble, a son of the Capt. 
James Trimble above referred to, who died 
at an advanced age In 1886 , wrote a poem on 
this battle, which is thought worth preserv- 
ing in this connection, written as it was by 
one of Highland County’s most respected cit- 
izens, and a son of a participant in the battle.] 

Come listen to a soldier’s tale of a battle fierce 
and sore, 

That was fought with Cornstalk and his 
braves on wild Kanawha’s shore. 

’Twas near the point of meeting with Ohio’s 
placid stream, 

This famous conflict happened, the burthen 
of my theme. 

It was a fearful battle, where Virginia blood 
did flow, 

Among her gallant soldiers, with a savage 
Indian foe. 

Where Cornstalk, leagued with Girty, from 
forest and from fen, 

Lay close in ambush to surprise brave Lewis 
and his men, 

Who from Augusta county came, and men 
from Botetourt, 

With Rockbridge ready riflemen, In conflict 
sore and hot. 

Our leaders all were brave and true as lions in 
a fight, 

And each was noted far and near, and each a 
fearless knight. 

There stood the brothers Lewis, on fame’s 
memorial roll, 

Whose courage and whose chivalry enshrines 
the patriot soul ; 

The one was chief commander, the younger 
led the way 

Where deeds of valor were performed that 
fam’d October day. 



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Oar march led through the forest, midst perils 
everywhere, 

Of lurking foes in front and rear, whose cun- 
ning was a snare 

Awaiting us at every step, as our chief was 
well aware. 

Yet through the winding labyrinth of moun- 
tain pass and glen, 

Brave Lewis led his rangers on, of full twelve 
hundred men. 

And yet with all his practic’d skill the crafty 
Indian lav 

Close in am bush, to surprise our cam pat open- 
ing day. 

Our bivouac was near the point where two 
great rivers met, 

And all was safe within our lines when even- 
ing sun was set. 

It was on the tenth October, and th’ Indian 
summer’s haze 

Had tinged the forest leaves around with 
Autumn’s mellow rays. 

While peacefully, each soldier slept, with 
picket guards around 

Our lone encampment, soon to be a fearful 
battle ground. 

Quick, rallying at a signal gun, that echoed 
tne alarm. 

And loud the calls of Captains rang for every 
man to arm. 

Then each, surprised, the danger spurned, and 
grasped his rifle true. 

And rallying where the danger pressed, re- 
solved to die or do. 

First fell our noble Colonel, Charles Lewis— 
none more brave— 

And by his side Hugh Allen lay, to fill a 
hero’s grave ; 

While Fleming, leading bravely on through- 
out the raging flght. 

Was borne by comrades from the field as day 
was closed in night. 

There Mofflt, Chris tern, Matthews led, with 
stern McClanahan, 

All Captains of renown that day, as chiefs of 
Scottish clan. 

And loud the yells of savage rose, as fierce 
each warrior came 

Face to face with gallant men of tried and 
dauntless fame. 

Their noted chieftain’s clarion shout, “Be 
brave and flght like men !” 

Was echoed through the battle’s din from for- 
est and from glen. 

From early dawn to latest eve the conflict was 
full sore, 

And when the fearful work was done four 
hundred men or more 

Lay pale in death, to find a grave on that far 
distant shore. 

O, there were tears of sorrow there, where 
friends and brothers bled, 

And many a heart with anguish throb’d while 
gazing on the dead. 

Here oft the father closed the eye of fondly 
cherished son, 

To feel the one consoling though t,“A patriot’s 
duty done.” 

For country, not for fame, they fought, and 
honored be the name 

Of each of those twelve hundred men who 
from the valley came. 

They rallied at their country’s call to face a 
lurking foe, 

(While Dunmore’s treachery had designed 
their secret overthrow.) 

Stern vengeance then was braving to crush 
oppression’s laws, 

And patriots fast were gathering to assert the 
people’s cause. 

For this heroic battle was a prelude to the 
storm 

That gave new light to freemen, and to free- 
dom’s laws a form, 

When the genius of our statesmen and their 
patriot worth was shown, 

That illum’d the page of history with a science 
then unknown, 



Of man’s inherent freedom, and his manhood, 
to Ignore 

The follies of past ages, and the light of truth 
restore. 

This mission came to Jefferson and his col- 
leagues to perform, 

For Patrick Henry to enthuse, and fearless of 
the storm 

Of coming Revolution, that held the world 

&in ftZrC di 

At which all tyrants trembled, and their pris- 
on walls were razed. 

His eloquence of words and mien gave out 
lmpass’n’d power. 

To move the souls of patriots in that imperil- 
ed hour. 

And when their work was finished and the 
people’s cause was won, 

The glory of their fame was crown’d in the 
matchless Washington. 

After this Gov. Dunmore determined 
to leave a blockhouse at the Point, and 
penetrate into the interior and force the 
Indians into another battle or bring 
them to terms. He arrived at the Pick- 
away Plains and encamped for a num- 
ber of days, sending out detached parties 
to collect information in regard to the 
strong holds of the enemy. In this expedi- 
tion was also Capt. Trimble, then a youth 
of eighteen years, when he first saw and 
admired the beautiful Valley of the 
Scioto, and as one of the spies or scouts 
of Lord Dunmore’s army, he advanced, 
as far West as the present county of 
Highland. But Kentucky was first to 
be conquered, and ten years afterwards 
he was among the earlv pioneers who 
fought their way from Cumberland Gap 
to Bryan’s station, now Lexington. In 
this new theatre of action, he took a 
prominent part in defending the infant 
settlers, ana when Wayne’s victory re- 
stored peace to the West, he determined 
to revisit Ohio, and in company with 
Col. Dunlap, he examined the lands of 
Highland, Ross and Scioto as early as 
1796, and made selections of several 
tracts which he afterwards located and 
surveyed. 

All efforts to check, either by negotia- 
tion or pursuit, the depredations of the 
Indians on the frontier settlements of 
Kentucky, Virginia and Pennsylvania, 
having failed, the Government of the 
United States, then under the direction 
of Washington, who had employed every 
means in his power to induce the Indians 
to live in friendship with their white 
neighbors,* determined to send out a 
force which, if properly directed, would 
compel them to cease their predatory 
warfare upon the peaceable settlers. 
The command of this expedition was 
conferred upon Gen. Harmer, a popular 
soldier of the revolution. A requisition 
was made on Kentucky and Western 
Pennsylvania for volunteers, which was 
promptly responded to. The troops as- 
sembled at Fort Washington — now Cin- 

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12 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

cinnati — and numbered about thirteen try on the 3d day of November, 1790. 
hundred. They marched in September, and halted on what is now' the line be- 
1790. This expedition did some hard tween Darke and Mercer counties, in- 
fighting, destroyed some towns, corn, &c., tending to throw up some slight protec- 
belonging to the Indians, but on the tion for the safety of the baggage, and 
whole it was a failure. The hostility of await the return of the regiment recent- 
the Indians remained unchecked, and * ly dispatched to arrest a party of desert- 
the Government found it absolutely ers. On the following morning, how- 
necessary to send out another and ever, about half an hour before sunrise, 
stronger army as speedily as possible, the encampment was attacked with great 
This army, consisting of near three fury by the whole available force of all 
thousand men, regulars and volunteers, the north-west tribes, and the most dis- 
was commanded by Gov. St. Clair in astrous defeat in the annals of Indian 
person, and reached the enemy’s coun- , warfare lollowed. 



CHAPTER IV. 

SOME OF THE ADVENTURES OF DUNCAN MCARTHUR AND SAMUEL DAVIS— THE 
CAPTURE AND ESCAPE OF ISRAEL DONA LSON— UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS 
OF THOMAS BEA LS TO REACH THIS COUNTY FROM NORTH CAROLINA— THE 
BURNING OF JAMES HORTON AND JOHN BRANSON— SIMON KENTON PUR- 
SUES A PARTY OF SHAWNEES THROUGH THE COUNTY. 



I NDIAN outrages of every kind were 
now multiplied, and emigration was 
almost suspended. The incursions of 
savages kept the frontier settlements in 
continual alarm. Indeed, the danger 
became so constant and imminent that 
the Government of Kentucky found it 
absolutely necessary to employ spies or 
scouts to traverse the frontier country in 
every direction to discover if possible 
the approach of Indians and give the 
alarm to the stations and neighborhoods. 
On the vigilance and fidelity of these 
spies, depended the lives and property 
of the settlers, and on these guardians 
of the border all eyes were turned. The 
position was much sought for, and of 
course esteemed a high distinction. The 
number of these sentinels was necessari- 
ly limited. Duncan McArthur and 
Samuel Davis with two others were 
deemed sufficient, and they were in- 
structed to range the country from 
Limestone to the mouth of the Big 
Sandy river. 

McArthur and Davis generally went 
together. They had with them a light 
canoe, and when going up the Ohio their 
custom was for one to push the canoe 
up the stream while the other walked 
in advance to reconnoitre. They had 
passed up in this way one day to with- 
in a short distance of the mouth of the 
Scioto river. Early the next morning 
they crossed the Ohio and went back 



over the bottom to where they knew of 
a fine deer lick. The morning was very 
calm, and a light fog hung over the bot- 
tom. When they got near the lick, 
McArthur halted and Davis proceeded, 
stooping low among the bushes and 
weeds to conceal himself. He moved 
on with the noiseless tread of the cat till 
he was near the lick, when he straight- 
ened up to see if the ground was occupi- 
ed. At that instant he heard the crack 
of a rifle, and a bullet whistled by his 
ear. As the morning was still and foggy, 
the smoke from the Indian’s gun settled 
around him, so that he could not see 
whether the shot had taken effect or not. 
Davis raised his rifle, and as the Indian 
stepped out of the smoke to make ob- 
servations, shot him dead. He immedi- 
ately reloaded his rifle, by which time 
McArthur came running to him, know- 
ing the shots he had heard were in too 
quick succession to come from the same 
gun; just as he reached the spot where 
Davis stood, they heard the sound of 
many footsteps, and in an instant more 
a number of Indians made their appear- 
ance on the open ground near the lick. 
McArthur and Davis were standing in 
the thick bushes and high weeds, and 
being unperceived by the Indians, cau- 
tiously retreated, reached their canoe 
and crossed the river. On another oc- 
casion while spying in company with 
Nathaniel Beasley and others, McArthur 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



went down to the same deer lick, while their prisoner must have led them 
his companions remained with the canoe, through the present town of New Mar- 
He made a blind behind which he con- ket, in this county, and three or four 
cealed himself, and patiently waited for miles west of the site of Hillsboro. Don- 
game. He lay about an hour, when he alson remained but a short time with 
discovered two Indians coming to the the Indians. They had him securely, as 
lick. They were so near him before he they thought, tied with a bark rope, on 
saw them, that retreat was out of the each end of which slept an Indian at 
question. As the boldest course appear- night: He determined, however, to be 
ed to him to be the safest, he determin- free, and on the last night with liis cap- 
ed to permit them to approach as near tors he set to work, after he was satis 
as possible, shoot one of them and try fied they were asleep, to gnaw off the 
his strength with the other. When rope, in which he succeeded just about 
they came near the lick they halted in day break. He then crawled off on his 
an open piece of ground, and straighten- hands and knees until he got into the 
ed up to look into the lick for game, edge of the prairie, when he sat down 
This halt enabled McArthur to take de- within ten rods of the camp to put on 
liberate aim from a rest, at only four- his moccasins. The Indians awoke 
teen steps distance. He fired and an white he was thus engaged, and missing 
Indian fell. McArthur remained still a him, raised the yell, and started on the 
moment, thinking it possible that the back track, while Donalson ran with 
other Indian would take to flight. In one moccasin in his hand, and escaped, 
this, however, he was mistaken. The He suffered intensely from fatigue, 
Indian did not even dodge out of his hunger, sore feet, &c., before he reached 
tracks when his companion sunk lifeless Fort Washington. Mr. Donalson lived 
by his side. As the Indian’s gun was in Adams county until he reached the 
charged, McArthur concluded it would advanced age of ninety years. He was 
be a rather fearful job to rush upon him; a member of the Convention that fram- 
he therefore determined upon a retreat ed the Old Constitution. 

Accordingly he broke from his place of In 1778, Thomas Beals, a leading mem- 
concealment and ran with all speed, ber of the Society of Friends, and one of 
He had run but a few steps when he the earliest settlers in the northern part 
found himself tangled in the top of a of Highland, conceived the idea that be 
fallen tree, which caused a momentary could travel among the Indians of the 
halt. At that instant the Indian fired, West, and in the character of the great 
and the ball whistled sharply by him. and good William Penn succeed in 
As the Indian’s gun, as well as his own, christianizing and civilizing them. He 
was now empty, he thought of turning accordingly left North Carolina in the 
round and giving him fight upon equal spring of this year in company with 
terms, but several other Indians appear- seven or eight others on his way to Ken- 
ingin sight, rushing with savage screams tucky. The party arrived at the resi- 
through the woods, he continued his dence of Beverly Milliner, also an old 
flight with his utmost speed; the Indians settler in our county, on Clinch river, 
pursuing and firing at him as he ran. where some more Friends joined his 
One of the balls struck the bottom of party. When they were about resum- 
his powder horn and shivered it. He ing their journey, Beals spoke to them 
was sufficiently self-possessed when the and said he could not see the way clear 
ball struck to drop his hand and catch a to start then. They re-entered the house 
load of powder, which he immediately and sat in silence some time. At length 
used in charging his gun as he ran, with- Thomas broke the silence, and was giv- 
out slacking his pace. The Indians pur- ing them a good sermon. While he was 
sued him for some distance, but he gain- preaching a squad of Light-horsemen 
ed on them so rapidly that they soon rode up and inquired if Beals’ company 
gave up the pursuit. When he reached was there. On being answered, the 
the bank of the river he discovered Beas- commander delivered a dispatch from 
ley and his companions in the canoe pad- Col. Preston, then on duty near Bean’s 
dling up stream, in order to make them- station with a small military force 
selves more conspicuous to McArthur Beals’ party immediately set out for that 
should he make his escape from the place. When they arrived, Preston in- 
Indians. quired very minutely into his plans, and 

In April, 1791, Israel Donalson, while told him the Indians would not listen to 
on a surveying expedition with Massie, him, and he could not let his party pass, 
on the waters of Brushcreek, was made but that he might stay and preach to 
prisoner by the Indians and carried him and his troops. Beals replied that 
north towards their towns on the Miami, he did not know that he could say any- 
The route taken by the Indians with thing of himself, but if the Colonel would 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 



order his men into silence he would sit 
with them , which the Colonel did . They 
all sat awhile in profound silence; for 
the scene, though extremely novel to 
most of the troops, who had never be- 
fore witnessed the peculiar, though 
simple and impressive ceremonies of the 
meek, gentle and philanthropic Friends, 
was understood to be a religious meet- 
ing, and the rough soldiers and the 
hardy back-woodsmen, though depriv- 
ed for many months of the advantages 
of regular preaching, had by no means 
ceased to respect the ministers of the 
church. Beals finally rose to his feet 
and preached one of the greatest sermons, 
which was listened to with marked at- 
tention. This was doubtless the first 
sermon ever heard from the lips of a 
Friend in the wilds of Kentucky. Col. 
Preston was much pleased with the 
preaching, as well as the earnest de- 
votion and self-sacrificing spirit mani- 
fested by the preacher and his compan- 
ions. They seemed unconscious of 
danger, and impressed with the belief 
that the voice of Christian love and the 
promised rewards of an obedience to the 
promptings of the inner spirit, could not 
fail in their effects on the hearts of the 
savages. But Col. Preston knew the 
Indians better, and advised Beals and 
his companions to return, which they 
reluctantly did. 

Two years afterwards, Beals, still im- 
pressed with the idea of christianizing 
the Indians, set out with another party 
to the West, crossed the New river coun- 
try down to a stream called Bluestone, 
about fifty miles above the falls of 
Kanawha. The party was pleased with 
the country, but owing to some unknown 
cause, the project was again abandoned, 
and after taking a good hunt, the party 
returned home. 

The next spring Beals made up an 
emigrant party of Carolinians, and mov- 
ed out and commenced a settlement on 
Blupstone. That fall most of the men 
went on a hunt some distance from the 
settlement. They had excellent luck 
and killed a large quantity of game — bear, 
deer, &c. They returned home and sent 
a party out with horses to bring in the 
meat. During their absence the Indians 



had discovered their camp, and were 
lying in ambush awaiting the return of 
the party. On the first fire, five ot the 
men were shot dead. The remaining 
two, James Horton, Beals’ son-in-law, 
and John Branson were taken prisoners. 
They were immediately hurried off to 
the north-west, and taken to Old Chilli- 
cothe — now Frankfort— and after under- 
going all the tortures peculiar to savage 
ingenuity, were finally burned at the 
stake. James Horton was the father of 
Jacob Horton, who afterward resided in 
Fairfield township, in this county. 

Early in the spring of 1791 a party of 
Shawnees crossed the Ohio near the 
mouth of Eagle creek and stole horses, 
robbed and burned houses and murder- 
ed some of the inhabitants of what is now 
Mason county, Kentucky. Kenton rais- 
ed a party and pursued them. The 
Indians took a due north course. The 
pursuing party made a forced march, 
and being fresh and eager, reached by 
night-fall the banks of the Rocky Fork 
of Paint, and encamped on its bank near 
the present residence of John H. Jolly. 
In the morning they continued the pur- 
suit, and passed up the ridge in the 
direction of where Hillsboro now stands, 
and over the site of the town on towards 
where Martinsville now stands. A short 
distance east of the present town, and on 
a tract of land now known as the Throck- 
morton survey, the scouts of the party 
reported Indians in the neighborhood. 
Kenton and his party halted and sent 
one Timothy Downing forward to re- 
connoitre, supported by two others. 
Downing was m advance and caught 
sight of an Indian who had doubtless 
loitered in the rear of his party for the 
same purpose that Downing had gone in 
advance of his. Downing, by some 
means, got the start of the Indian and 
killed him. At the report of his rifle the 
main body of the Indians took alarm 
and scattered through the woods, leav- 
ing all the stolen horses and goods. 
Kenton and his men pursued with all 
speed, but were unable to overtake any 
of them. So they were compelled to 
content themselves with the plunder 
they had obtained. 



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CHAPTER V. 



THE BATTLE OF THE EAST FORK. 

/ 

I N the spring of 1792 the Indians were Washburn, with another, followed on 
very troublesome to the settlers on the the trail some distance in advance. They 
northern frontier of Kentucky, and had not gone far before Washburn was 
kept them in constant dread. Occasion- seen Returning hastily to meet the party, 
ally a party would cross the river, steal a He gave Kenton intelligence that about 
lot of horses, kill some ol the inhabitants a mile ahead he had heard a vast num- 
and burn their houses. In April Ken- ber of bells, and that he was convinced 
ton raised a party of thirty-seven men the bells were near the Indian camp; 
and set out in pursuit of a marauding they appeared to be scattered as if the 
company of Indians, who had re-crossed . horses were feeding in different direc- 
the Ohio a short distance below Lime- tions. A council was immediately held 
stone, and started in the direction of the to make arrangements for the coming 
head of the Little Miami. When near combat. It was now late in the evening 
the fiast Fork of the Little Miami silent- and drizzling rain. Kenton, after plac- 
ly pursuing the Indian trail, he heard a ing his men in a proper situation to de- 
bell in the distance. He immediately fend themselves should they be attack- 
stopped his party, and went in person to ed, took Washburn and went to ascer- 
reconnoitre. He took with him, says tain bv personal observation the situa- 
McDonald in his sketches, three others, tion of the enemy. About the dusk of 
Among those he selected was Cornelius the evening he came in view of the 
Washburn, a young man whose nerves Indian encampment. With the stealthy 
were as steady while taking aim at an and watchful tread of the cat he ap- 
Indian as when he was practicing with proached as near the camp as prudence 
his rifle at a target. He had been with would dictate. The Indians were camp- 
Kenton on several expeditions, and al- ed on the bank of the East Fork of the 
ways distinguished himself as a bold Little Miami, a short distance above 
soldier. Kenton and his ^ companions the residence of Michael Stroup, and 
went cautiously forward toward the bell, within the present limits of Highland 
After they had gone some distance they county, though others locate the place 
saw an Indian riding toward them. The lower down. They had a number of 
Indian, it appeared, was hunting with tents and marquees, which it is proba- 
his bell open, as deer are not alarmed at ble they had taken at St. Clair’s defeat, 
the sound of a bell, on the contrary they The number of Indians could not be 
stand in mute astonishment and gaze at ascertained, but Kenton had no doubt 
the horse on which the bell hangs. As there were three or four times as many 
soon as Kenton saw the Indian approach- of them as there were of the whites. He 
ing he concealed his little party till the returned and reported to his company 
Indian came sufficiently near. Wash- their situation and probable number, 
burn was selected to shoot the Indian, and, after consultation, it was determin- 
and when he reached an open space, ed to trust to fortune and attack them 
Kenton made a noise. The Indian, as boldly. Kenton moved his party on 
was expected, stopped his horse to listen, near to the Indian camp without attract- 
The moment he stopped his horse ing the notice of the enemy, and then 
Washburn fired, and down fell the divided them into parties of four men 
Indian. Kenton then returned to his each. These parties were instructed* 
main party and a consultation was held when the signal was given, each to at- 
on the subject of their future operations, tack a separate tent or marquee. He 
They were satisfied this Indian was not chose midnight for the attack, lest he 
alone in the woods — that his comrades might have to retreat, in which case he 
were not far distant. As they were con- wished a good part of the night to get a 
vinced that they were in the neighbor- start, as they could not be pursued in 
hood of the enemy, circumspection in the dark. Ab soon as his arrangements 
their movements was indispensable, were made, they moved cautiously for- 
• They were still on the trail of the Indians ward to the unequal contest. So cau- 
they started in pursuit of from Kentucky, tious and noiseless was their approach 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

that every party was within five or six ing an Indian horse in the woods, which 
paces of the line of tents without being he tied in the rear of thq camp. After 
discovered. They rushed upon the the retreat was commenced he mount- 
Indian tents with tremendous yells, and* ed the horse and rode off. Early on the 
each fired his rifle against an Indian as following morning, Tecumseh, with 
he slept. The Indians who were uniu- some of his men, set out in pursuit of 
jured, broke through the backs of the the retreating parly, and having struck 
tents and escaped. Kenton’s party was the trail of Mclntire, they pursued it 
so small that nothing like half the tents for some distance, and at length over- 
had been fired into. After the first fire took him, where he had struck a fire 



nearly all the Indians who had escaped 
from the tents, seeing the small number 
ot the whites, boldly rallied, returned to 
the tents that had not been attacked, 
gathered up their arms and returned the 
fire. There was on a lower bottom, or 
as some say on the other side of the creek, 
a second line of tents which Kenton had 
not discovered when he reconnoitred 
the camp. The Indians from them ran 
to the aid of their comrades. Kenton 
perceived this movement, and seeing the 
Indians attempting to surround him, 
ordered a retreat. The whole skirmish 
lasted but a few minutes. From inform- 
ation received from a Mr. Riddle, a 
white man who lived with the Indians, 
their numbers were ascertained to be 
two hundred, some of whom were 
women. There were about thirty of 
them killed and a number wounded. 
The celebrated Tecumseh commanded 
the Indians. 

When the first gun was fired Riddle 
states that Tecumseh, who was lying by 
the fire outside of the tents, sprang to 
his feet, and calling upon his warriors 
to follow his example, rushed forward 
and killed one of the whites, John Barr, 
with his war club. One of the Indians 
in the midst of the engagement fell in- 
to the creek, and in his efforts to get 
out of the water, made so much noise 
as to induce the whites to believe that 
another reinforcement was crossing 
the stream to assail them. This is sup- 
posed to have hastened the order from 
Kenton for his men to retreat. The re- 
treating party was three days in reach- 
ing Limestone, during two days of 
which they were without food, and 
destitute of sufficient clothing to pro- 
tect them from the cold winds and 
rains which had overtaken them. The 
pursuit of the Indians continued during 
the greater part of the day succeeding 
the fight. 

Barr’s bones were left on the battle 
field, and were gathered and buried by 
Joseph VanMeter, William Spickard 
and Daniel Jones, the first settlers on 
the lands in the vicinity of the 
battle. As to Mclntire, there are 
not less than two reports. One is to 
the effect that the afternoon prior to 
the battle Mclntire succeeded in catch- 



and was cooking some meat. When he 
discovered his pursuers he immediate- 
ly tied at full speed. Tecumseh and 
two others pursued in lull chase, and 
were fast gaining upon him when he 
turned and raised his gun. The two 
Indians, happening to be in the advance 
of Tecumseh, sprang to trees, but he 
boldly rushed upon Mclntire and made 
him prisoner He was tied and taken 
back to the battle ground, where short- 
ly afterwards, in the temporary absence 
of Tecumseh, the Indians fell upon him 
and killed him. It is said Tecumseh 
was greatly vexed and distressed at 
this. This information was obtained 
from prisoners, who after the peace of 
1765 were released and returned to 
Kentucky. They stated that the en- 
campment had been forrped at the head- 
quarters, from which predatory parties 
were to attack the settlements in Ken- 
tucky and cut off boats descending the 
Ohio river. Another version of the 
story is, that Mclntire was pursued by 
the Indians, and killed on what is now 
the farm of Charles Stroup. His body, 
tradition says, was taken to the Indian 
camp, where the savages, with many 
ceremonies, cut it into quarters, which 
they suspended on the surrounding 
trees. His heart they took out of the 
body and elevated on the point of a 
long pole in the centre of the encamp- 
ment in front of the marquee of 
Tecumseh. 

In reference to the precise locality of 
the battle, some difference of opinion 
seems to prevail among writers, who 
claim to derive their information from 
authentic sources. A majority of them 
appear to favor the opinion that it was 
fought on the banks of the East Fork 
of the Little Miami, a few miles above 
where the town of Williamsburg now 
stands, near a large deer lick, but no 
evidence has been offered to establish 
the location at the point indicated. All 
authorities concur, however, in the facts 
that a battle was fought at the time 
stated between a party of Kentuckians, 
commanded by Kenton, and a large 
body of encamped Indians, under 
Tecumseh, on the East Fork of the 
Little Miami, and that the predatory # 
band of Indians, followed by Kenton 



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and his men from Kentucky, crossed 
the Ohio river a short .distance below 
Limestone, doubtless <*t the mouth of 
Eagle Creek, a4 that is known to have 
been one of their crossing places, and 
continued on in the direction of the 
head waters of the Little Miami. A 
glance at the map of Ohio will show 
this route to lead to a point on the East 
Fork, several miles above that claimed 
by those who fix the battle ground a 
few miles above Williamsburg, and 
very near that at which it Is here claim- 
ed the fight actually occurred. In ad- 
dition to this, Indians never were in 
the habit of fixing a large £nd compara- 
tively permanent encampment near a 
lick, on which they would necessarily 
depend to a considerable extent for pro- 
visions. Then there are evidences on 
ground which is on the farm now own- 
ed by William Gibler, and about a mile 
above the mouth of Dodson creek, on 
the south east bank of the East Fork, 
near a yellow bank and on or near 
what was once a small prairie of some 
ten acres— that are incontrovertible of 
a battle having once been fought there. 
Human bones were v found on this 
ground by the early settlers, trees scar- 
red by the bullets and marks of the 
camp fires were still visible at the first 
settlement. An Indian tomahawk was 
found upon the ground some years after, 
and a gun-barrel was found in the route 
of the retreating party about a mile 
from the battle ground, supposed to 
have been Mclntire’s, and the place 
the scene of his death. Joseph Van- 
Meter, who settled where Michael 
Stroup afterward resided some ten 
years after the battle, found the bones 
of Mclntire, some of them still hanging 
on the trees, and buried them. There 
was cut on the bark of a large beech 
tree, near the battle ground, the figure 
of an Indian in war costume, tomahawk 
in hand. Under which were deep 
notches supposed to be intended to in- 
dicate the number killed in the battle, 
and short hacks for those wounded. 
The direction the Indians took when 
they left is supposed to be shown by a 
long mark through the bark of the tree. 
These things have all been seen by the 
old Settlers, who can yet point out, 
though the ground has long been culti- 
vated, the battle field on which the bold 
Kenton and his Kentuckians met the 
great Tecumseh and his followers. 
They also show the location of the 
Indian encampment and the command- 
ing ground where Kenton and his party 
lay in wait for several hours for mid- 
night to come— the hour of the attack 
on the Indian camp. fc 



It may not be inappropriate to close 
thiskccount with somerhymes embody- 
ing the tradition of the battle. They 
are the closing part of a poem of sever- 
al stanzas, written long ago by an early 
settler in the vicinity of the battle 
ground. We extract them literally: 
“I’ll drop you now another thought, 

A battle here long since vas fought; 

, By Indians on Miami’s shore, 

And white men from Kentucky o’er. 

The whites closed up on them at night, 
And shot thenj down by early light ; 

The Indians’ cry of war repeat, 

The white man had then to retreat. 

They traveled far the forest o’er, 

Till they reached again the Ohio shore ; 
Then the lamentation was to all, 

For those two men who had to fall. 

The Kentucky friends then did inquire 
What became of Barr and Mclntire ; 

They did reply with sorrow deep, 

The Indians laid them long to sleep.” 

[A different account of this battle is found 
in McClung’8 “Western Adventures,” which 
we give below in full.— Ed.] 

The trail led them do w n on the Miami, 
and about noon on the second day they 
heard a bell in front, apparently from a 
horse grazing. Cautiously approaching 
it, they quickly beheld asolitary Indian 
mounted on horseback, and leisurely 
advancing towards them. A few of 
their best marksmen fired upon him 
and brought him to the ground. After 
a short consultation it was then deter- 
mined to follow his back trail, and as- 
certain whether there were more in the 
neighborhood. A small, active, reso- 
lute woodsman named Mclntire, ac- 
companied by three others, was pushed 
on in advance, in order to give them 
early notice of the enemy’s appearance, 
while the main body followed at a more 
leisurely pace. Within an hour Mc- 
lntire returned, and reported that they 
were then within a short distance of a 
large party of Indians, supposed to be 
greatly superior to their own. That 
they were encamped in a bottom upon 
the borders of a creek, and were amus- 
ing themselves, apparently awaiting 
the arrival of the Indian whom they 
had just killed, as they would occasion- 
ally halloo loudly, and then laugh im- 
moderately, supposing, probably, that 
their comrade had lost his way/ 

This intelligence fell like a shower 
bath upon the spirits of the party, who, 
thinking it more prudent to put a great- 
er interval between themselves and the 
enemy, set spurs to their horses, and 
galloped back in the direction from 
which they had come. Such was the 
anic, that one of the footmen, a huge, 
ulking fellow six feet high, in his zeal 
for his own safety, sprang up behind 
Captain Calvin (who was then mounted 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



upon Captain Ward’s horse, the Captain 
having dismounted in order to accom- 
modate him) and nothing short of a 
threat to blow his brains out could in- 
duce him to dismount. In this orderly 
manner they scampered through the 
woods for several miles, when, in 
obedience to the orders of Kenton ana 
Calvin, they halted, and prepared for 
resistance in case (as was probable) the 
enemy had discovered them, and were 
engaged in the pursuit. Kenton and 
Calvin were engaged apart in earnest 
consultation. It was proposed that a 
number of saplings should be cut down 
and a temporary breast-work erected, 
and while the propriety of these meas- 
ures was under discussion, the men 
were left to themselves. 

Captain Ward, as we have already 
observed, was then very young, and 
perfectly raw. He had been in the 
habit of looking up to ont man as a 
perfect Hector, having always heard 
him represented in his own neighbor- 
hood as a man of redoubted courage, 
and a perfect Anthropophagus among 
the Indians. When they halted, there- 
fore, he naturally looked around for 
his friend, hoping to read safety, 
courage and assurance of success in 
that countenance, usually so ruddy and 
confident. But alas! the gallant war- 
rior was wofully chop-fallen. There 
had, generally, been a ruddy tinge upon 
the tip of his nose, which some ascribed 
to the effervescence of a fiery valor, 
while others, more maliciously inclined, 
attributed it to the fumes of brandy. 
Even this burning beacon had been 
quenched, and had assumed a livid 
ashy hue, still deeper if possible than 
that of his lips. Captain Ward, think- 
ing that the danger must be appalling, 
which could damp the ardor of a man 
like him, instantly became grievously 
frightened himself, and the contagion 
seemed spreading rapidly, when Kenton 
and Calvin rejoined them, and speaking 
in a cheerful, confident tone, complete- 
ly reanimated their spirits. 

Finding themselves not pursued by 
the enemy, as they had expected, it was 
determined that they should remain in 
their present position until night, when 
a rapid attack was to be made in two 
divisions upon the Indian camp, under 
the impression that the darkness of the 
night, and the surprise of the enemy 
might give them an advantage which 
they could scarcely hope for in daylight. 
Accordingly, everything remaining 
quiet at dusk, they again mounted and 
advanced rapidly, but in profound 
silence, upon the Indian camp. It was 
ascertained that the horses which the 



enemy had stolen were grazing in a rich 
bottom below their camp. As they 
were advancing to the attack, therefore, 
Calvin detached his son with several 
halters, which he haff borrowed from 
the men, to regain their own horses, 
and be prepared to carry them off in 
case the enemy should overpower them. 
The attack was then made in two 
divisions. 

Calvin conducted the upper and Ken- 
ton the lower party. The wood was 
thick, but the moon shone out clearly, 
and enabled them to distinguish objects 
with sufficient precision. Calvin’s party 
came first in contact with the enemy. 
They had advanced within thirty yards 
of a large fire in front of a number of 
tents without having seen a single 
Indian, when a dog which had been 
watching them, for several minutes 
sprung forward to meet them, baying 
loudly. Presently an Indian appeared 
approaching cautiously towards them, 
and occasionally speaking to the dog in 
the Indian tongue. This sight was too 
tempting to be borne, and Calvin heard 
the tick of a dozen rifles in rapid suc- 
cession, as his party cocked them in 
order to fire. The Indian was too close 
to permit him to speak, but turning to 
his men he earnestly waived his hand 
as a warning to be quiet. Then cau- 
tiously raising his own rifle, he fired 
with a steady aim, just as the Indian 
had reached the fire, and stood fairly 
exposed to its light. 

The report of the rifle instantly broke 
the stillness of the night, and their ears 
were soon deafened by the yells of the 
enemy. The Indian at whom Calvin 
fired fell forward into the burning pile 
of faggots, and by his struggling to ex- 
tricate himself, scattered the brands so 
much as to almost extinguish the light. 
Several dusky forms glanced rapidly 
before them for a moment, which drew 
a volley from his men, but with what ef- 
fect could not be ascertained. Calvin, 
having discharged his piece, turned so 
rapidly as to strike the end of his ram- 
rod against a tree behind him, and drive 
it into its sheath with such violence, 
that he Was unable to extricate it for 
several minutes, and finally fractured 
two of his teeth in the effort. 

A heavy fire now commenced from 
the Indian camp which was returned 
with equal spirit by the whites, but 
without much effect on either side. 
Trees were barked very plentifully, dogs 
bayed, the Indians yelled, the whites 
shouted, the squaws screamed, and a 
prodigious uproar was maintained for 
about ttteen minutes, when it was re- 
ported to Calvin that Kenton’s party 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



had been overpowered, and was in full 
retreat. It was not necessary to give 
orders for a similar movement. No 
sooner had the intelligence been receiv- 
ed, than the Kentuckians of the upper 
division broke their ranks, and every 
man attempted to save himself as he 
best could. They soon overtook the 
lower division, and a hot scramble took 
place for horses. One called upon an- 
other to wait for him until he could 
catch his horse, which had broken his 
bridle, but no attention was paid to the 
request. Some fled upon their own 
horses, others mounted those of their 
friends. “First come, first served,” 
seemed to be the order of the night, and 
a sad confusion of property took place, 
in consequence of which, to their great 
terror, a few were compelled to return 
on foot. The flight was originally caus- 
ed by the panic of an individual. As 
the lower division moved up to the at- 
tack, most of the men appeared to 
advance with alacrity. 

Captain Ward, however, happened to 
be stationed next to Mclntire, vdiom 
we have already had occasion to Men- 
tion as a practiced woodsman 'and 
peculiarly expert marksman. Hereto- 
fore he had always been foremost in 
every danger, and had become celebrat- 
ed for the address, activity and bold- 
ness with which he had acquitted him- 
self. As they were ascending the gen- 
tle acclivity upon which the Indian 
camp stood, however, he appeared much 
dejected, and spoke despondingly of 
their enterprise. He declared that it 
had been revealed to him in a dream on 
the preceding night that their efforts 
would be vain, and that he himself was 
destined to perish. That he was deter- 
mined tq fight as long as any man of 
the party stood his ground, but if the 
whites were wise they would instantly 
abandon the attempt upon the enemy, 
and recross the Ohio as rapidly as possi- 
ble. 

These observations made but little 
impression upon Ward, but seemed to 
take deep root in the mind of the gentle- 
man whose pale face had alarmed the 
company at the breastwork. The action 
quickly commenced, and at the first fire 
from the Indians, Barr, a young Ken- 
tuckian, was shot by ’sside. This 
circumstance completed the overthrow 
of his courage, which had declined vis- 
ibly since tne first encounter in the 
morning, and elevating his voice to its 
shrillest notes, he shouted aloud, “Boys, 
it won’t do for us to be here; Barr is 



killed, and the Indians are crossin^the 
creek!” Bonaparte has said that there 
is a critical period in every battle, when 
the bravest men will eagerly seize an 
excuse to run away. The remark is 
doubly true with regard to militia. 

No sooner had this speech been utter- 
ed by one who had never yet been charg- 
ed with cowardice, than the rofit in- 
stantly took place, and all order was 
disregarded. Fortunately, the enemy 
were equally frightened, and probably 
would have fled themselves had the 
whites given them time. No pi^rsuit 
took place for Beveral hours, nor did 
they pursue the trail of the main body 
of fugitives. But it unfortunately 
happened that Mclntire, instead of ac- 
companying the rest, turned off from 
the main route, and returned to the 
breastwork where some flour and veni- 
son had been left. The Indians quick- 
ly became aware of the circumstance, 
and following with rapidity, overtook, 
tomahawked and scalped him, while 
engaged in preparing breakfast on the 
following morning. Thus was hiS 
dream verified. The prediction in this 
case, as in many others, probably pro- 
duced its own accomplishment by con- 
founding his mind, and depriving him 
of his ordinary alertness and intelli- 
ence. He certainly provoked his fate 
y his own extraordinary rashness. 

It is somewhat remarkable that a 
brother of Captain Ward was in the 
Indian camp at the moment when it 
was attacked. He had been taken by 
the Indians in 1758, being at the time 
only three years old, had been adopted 
as a member of the Shawnee tribe, and 
had married an Indian woman, by 
whom he had several children, all of 
whom, together with their mother, 
were then m camp. Captain Ward has 
informed the writer of this narrative 
that, a few seconds before the firing be- 
gan, while he stood within rifle shot of 
the encampment, an Indian girl ap- v 
parently fifteen years of age, attracted 
his attention. She stood for an instant 
in an attitude of alarm, in front of one 
of the tents, and gazed intently upon 
the spot where he then stood. Not im- 
mediately perceiving that it was a fe- 
male, he raised his gun, and was upon 
the point of firing, when her open 
bosom announced her sex, and her 
peculiarly light complexion caused him 
to doubt for a moment whether she 
could be an Indian by birth. He after- 
wards ascertained that she was his 
brother’s child. 



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CHAPTER VI. x 



BATTLE OF BELFA8T — BEALS AND POPE MAKE A*N EXPEDITION INTO THE 
COUNTT— SOMETHING ABOUT LAND WARRANTS AND HOW THEY WERE 
LOCATED — AN ADVENTURE OF MASSIE WHEN OUT SURVEYING IN THE 
VIRGINIA MILITARY DISTRICT. 



J OHN McNARY was one of the early 
Indian spies of Kentucky, and served 
with Shelby, Kenton; Clark and 
others of the fearless and persever- 
ing men of their day, in protecting tne 
border settlements .from Indian depre- 
dations. Shortly after St. Clair’s defeat 
he was sent out from Kentucky in 
company with about forty others, to 
the battle ground, to collect and bury 
the dead, but owing to the determined 
hostility and characteristic vigilance of 
the Indians in the vicihity, they were 
unable to accomplish the desired object. 
After they discovered the impossibility 
of the undertaking, they commenced a 
retreat. Several of the party had al- 
ready been picked off by the wily ene- 
my, and an effort was made to elude 
them, and if possible baffle pursuit. 
But they had not proceeded far on 
their homeward route before they be- 
came aware “that the Indians were 
dogging them. A hurried march was 
resolved upon, and as they doubted not 
but the Indians were much stronger 
than their party, all their skill was em- 
ployed to prevent an attack. The forced 
march continued until the party of 
Kentuckians were within a day’s march 
of Manchester. The morning of that 
day was dark and rather misty. The 
party of whites were still on the ldpk- 
out for their pursuers, although they 
had succeeded in baffling them the pre- 
ceding night and afternoon, and had 
therefore ventured to stop and take 
such repose as they could during most 
of the night, taking carfc to ipake as 
little noise as possible, and kindle no 
fires. They passed the night in securi- 
ty, free from interruption. Early in 
the morning they moved some four or 
five miles farther south, when they 
concluded to halt and take a hasty 
breakfast. The point at which they 
stopped for this purpose, as remember- 
ed by McNary, was at the first fork of 
Brushcreek, as now known, immediate- 
ly above the present town of Belfast, in 
this county, and south of a mound 



which stands in the forks of the creek. 
The Indians came on them whilst they 
were eating, unexpectedly and apparent- 
ly unintentionally. It seemed, from 
their actions, that they were themselves 
surprised, for before they could fire the 
white£\were able to give them a well- 
directea broadside, and fled. They saw 
several of the Indians fall after their 
fire, but as the enemy numbered at 
lea$t four to one, they did not feel like 
risking a battle while escape was possi- 
ble. The party of whites ran for sev- 
eral miles. The Indians fired on them 
just as they started, but fortunately 
without killing or wounding any of 
them. After a pursuit of several hours 
the Indians finding the whites gaining 
on them abandoned the chase, and the 
party arrived safely at Manchester in 
the evening. 

There is no doubt its to the truth of 
the above statement, and the location 
is well settled. McNary’s recollection 
of the place is worthy of credit, for he 
says he has passed through' Belfast 
since that town has been built, and vis- 
ited the place where the fight occurred. 
The forks of the creek and the mound 
farther attest his statement. In ad- 
dition, however, to these, a human 
skull was picked up some years ago at 
the identical point described by him as 
that where the skirmish occurred. 
This then is the second battle which 
took place between the Indians and 
whites within the boundary of the 
county of Highland, and within a year 
or two only from the date of Kenton’s 
battle on the East fork of the Miami. 

In 1794 or ’95 Thomas Beals and Na- 
thaniel Pope, one of the early settlers 
of this country, projected an expedition 
to the now State of Ohio. Accordingly 
early in the summer of that year, in 
company with a few others, they cross- 
ed the mountains and reached the Ohio 
at Point Pleasant, where they crossed 
the river. Pope was intimately! ac- 
quainted with Boone, and learned from 
him on his return from the West to his 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 21 



horfie on the Yadkin much of the beau- 
tiful country lying on the waters, of the 
Scioto and Miamis. Boone thought 
these countries equal to Kentucky. The 
party were resolved to see them, while 
Beals, still anxious to preach to the 
Indians, hesitated not to accompany 
them. After they entered the then 
North-western Territory they crossed 
,over the country watered by the 
Raccoon, Sims' Creek and Salt Creek. 
They struck the Scioto above West Fall. 
They passed on to the head of Cseser’s 
creek and being short of provisions and 
unable to find game, they turned and 
took a southerly direction one day’s 
journey-then east, w r hich brought 
them through the north part of what is 
now Highland county. They crossed 
Paint and kept to the west of Old Chil- 
licothe, not wishing to see the place 
where their friends, Horton and Bran- 
soh, had been burned. They passed 
through the Salt Creek country and 
struck the Ohio river near the mouth of 
Guyandotte. For several da>s before 
this the party had been out of provisions, 
and .were forced to kill and eat their 
dogs to sustain life. In hopes to find 
something in the way of game they 
passed up the river one or two days 
journey to a beautiful bottom, after- 
wards known as Green bottom. Here 
they determined Jo cross, and having 
constructed a raft by lushing dry 
mulberry logs together with hickory 
bark, they placed their saddles, &e.. on 
it, and getting on themselves, swam 
their horses over. Being again on the 
Virginia side, they attempted to find a 
new route through the mountains, but 
after wandering some length of time, 
and becoming fatigued and weakened 
by hunger, they gave it up and return- 
ed to the river in hopes to see a passing 
emigrant boat from which they could 
get relief. They arrived on the bank 
of the river late in the afternoon, weary, 
disheartened and starving. Something 
to eat they must have. One of the 
party proposed to kill a horse, which, 
as there appeared no alternative but 
starvation, was agreed to, but the ques- 
tion arose as to whose horse should be 
sacrificed. They finally settled “it by 
drawing cuts. " It fell upon Pope’s, 
which being a great favorite, he begged 
for a half hour, while he made a last 
effort to get provision elsewhere. He 
had only one load of ammunition re- 
maining, which was in his gun. Creep- 
ing along the banks of the river in 
hopes to see a duck or goose, he heard a 
noise in the water at a short distance, 
and presently discovered a canoe with 
three men in it who looked like Indians. 



He kept quiet, however, and waited till 
it came nearer; he, to his great joy, dis- 
covered that they were not Indians 
but Indian traders. He was so excited 
that he hallowed. The men in the 
canoe all snatched up their rifles; he 
threw his down. These traders furnish- 
ed the party with what ammunition 
and provision they needed. So ended 
the explorations and the sufferings of 
the party after having been out forty- 
five days, much of which time they were 
on short allowance, depending more on 
green pawpaws roasted than on bread 
or even meat. 

All the earliest settlers of the Ohio 
Valley were necessarily men of great 
courage and fortitude. Indeed the 
nature of the duties, inseparable from 
the position, precluded everything but 
the stern and manly virtues developed 
in the hard school of experience, and 
none but men in every sense of the word 
ever thought of entering the arena and 
braving the dangers of frontier life. 
The noblest spirits of the old States 
were therefore concentrated in the 
tjien West. But defiant of hardships, 
privations and dangers as were the 
pioneer emigrants, the early Surveyors 
who located and run off their lands, 
were, undoubtedly, much their supe- 
riors. They were not properly the first 
explorers of the country, but they were 
the first to take practical and perm a-* 
nent steps towards the beginning of the 
settlements which have grown in the 
brief period of sixty years into an 
empire of population, wealth and 
power. The surveyors were all men of 
education, and many of them were men 
of high order of talent, while for dar- 
ing, endurance and energy they stand 
unrivaled perhaps in th* country. 

On the 1st day of March, 1784, Vir- 
ginia ceded to the United States her 
territory north-west of the Ohio river, 
as a common fund for the benefit of all 
the States, reserving the country lying 
between the Miami and Scioto rivers 
to be appropriated as a reward to the 
soldiers of the Continental Line. This 
portion of country known as the Vir- 
ginia Military District, soon became 
the field of the active operations of the 
surveyors. A land office was opened in 
Louisville, Ky., as early as June, 1784, 
for the location of land in that territory, 
which had also been appropriated by 
Virginia to the payment of Revolu- 
tionary soldiers. 

In the spring of 1787 Major John (V- 
Banion and Arthur Fox, two enterpris- 
ing surveyors, crossed over into the 
Military District on this side of the 
river to obtain knowledge of the coun- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO . 

try, for the purpose ot enabling them Defective entries, in this particular, 

/ the better to make entries of land as- have been very common in this Dis- 
soon as an office should be opened for trict, and been the cause of more litiga- 
that purpose. They explored the whole tion than, perhaps, any other. Next in 
extent of country along the Ohio, and order came the survey, the essential 
some distance up the Scioto and Miami requisite of which was conformity to a 
rivers and s6me of their tributaries, just and reasonable construction of the 
On the 1st day of August of that year, entry. Surveys when made were re- 
Col. Anderson opened an office for the turned by the deputy to the general 
ei^ry bt lands in the Virginia Military surveyor, with a plat of the land sur- 
District. Entries were rapidly made of veyed, together with a description of 
the bottoms of the Ohio, ft^ami and the same by metes and bounds. This 
Scioto rivers. But tnis seems to have was required to be signed by the deputy 
been contrary to the design of Congress, surveyor, together with the chain men 
who promptly, on receiving the in- and markers. The survey was then re- 
formation, passed an act dated July, corded, and the plat with a certificate 
1788, invalidating all entries made on from the general surveyor, under his 
the north side of the Ohio river, /which seal of office, delivered to the owner, 
was, however, repealed two years after, together with the original warrant, 
This act restored validity to all entries after which a patent, issued from the 
made and regulated the mode of President ot the United States, acknowl- 
obtaining patents. edged a complete title in the owner. 

By a further provision of the act of Prior to 1790 the location of lands in 
the Virginia Legislature passed shortly this District was made by stealth, 
after the close of the Revolutionary Every creek that was explored, and 
war, for the establishment of a princi- every line that was run, was at the risk 
pal surveyor of the Military lands, the of life from the Indians, whose courage 
holders of the warrants were required and perseverance were only equaled by 
to place them in the hands of the chief the stern determination and heroic dar- 
surveyor, or one of his deputies, by a ing of the whites in pushing forward 
specified day* and that then the priority their settlements. It was a contest for 
of their warrants should be decided by dominion, and the bravery, the^trata- 
lot. The surveyors, after these prelimi- gem and the boldness displayed by the 
naries, were authorized to survey all Indians in executing their plans, could 
the good lands within the boundaries only be equaled by their fearless onsets 
• of the District. in attacks, and their masterly retreats 

These warrants were issued to satisfy when defeated, 
bounties, promised by various acts of The holders of warrants were pt lib- 
the Virginia Legislature to her Revolu- erty to locate them, but they were un- 
tionary officers and soldiers, and pre- acquainted with the business and 
scribed the amount of land to which detered by the hostility of the Indians.- 
each person was entitled according to They, therefore, usually chose to employ 
his rank in the army and the length of the deputy Purveyors on such terms as 
time of actual service. The first step, could be agreed upon. As the risk of 
says McDonald, taken towards the making entries was great, and as it 
acquisition of land by a warrant, is by was desirable to possess the best land, 
means of an entry, which is the appro- the owners of warrants in most cases 
priation of a certain quantity of vacant made liberal contracts with the survey- 
land by the owner of the warrant. This ors. One-fourth, one-third and often 
is made in a book kept by the surveyor as much as one-half, acquired by the 
for the purpose, and contains the quan- entry of good lands, was given by the 
tity of acres intended to be appropriat- proprietors to the surveyors. If the 
ed, the number of the warrant on which owners preferred paying money, the 
it is entered, and then calls for some usual terms were ten pounds Virginia 
specific, notorious apd permanent object, currency for each thousand acres enter- 
by which the locality of the land may ed, exclusive of chain men’s expenses, 
be known, and concluding with a gen- Alarge.amount of warrants were plac- 
eral description of the courses to be ed in the hands of Gen. Nathaniel Massie 
followed in a survey of it. This par- in 1790, who was an accomplished sur- 
ticularity was required that every per- veyor, as well as a reliable and energetic 
son holding a warrant might be enabled, business man. As a preliminary step, 
without interfering with prior locations, he determined to form a settlement m 
to locate his own warrant. This could the District. He accordingly, daring 
not be done with safety in a wild coun- the winter of 179(>-’91, laid out the town 
try, unless prior entries were made of Manchester, and built cabins for the 
with sufficient certainty as to notoriety, inhabitants. By the middle of March 

' \ 

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I 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 23 

the whole place was enclosed with strong called the spy, whose duty it was to keep 
pickets, firmly fixed in the ground, with on the back trail, and look out lest the 
block- houses at each angle for defense, party might be pursued and attacked by 



The establishment of this settlement was 
absolutely necessary. The surveyors 
must have a secure headquarters on the 
north side of the river, otherwise they N 
would have been completely at the "dis- 
posal of the Indians, with the river be- 
tween them and a safe place of retreat. 
Thus was the first settlement in the Vir- 
ginia Military District, and the fourth 
within the present boundaries of the 
State of Ohio, effected, which, although 
commenced in the hottest of the Indian 
war, suffered less than any previously 
made. All north of this place, then call- 
ed Massie’s Station, to the lakes, west to 
the mouth of the Miami, and east to 
Gallipolis, was one unbroken wilderness 
through which the surveying parties 
passed regardless of roads, and uncheer- 
ed by any of the incidents of civilization 
which now greet the traveler. All around , 
was the lonely solitary gloom of the dark 
old forest, except when relieved by an 
occasional wide spread prairie, smiling 
in the silence and beauty of its variegated 
and odorous flowers. Through all this 
vast wilderness roamed the bear, the elk, 
the buffalo, the deer, the panther and 
the innumerable smaller game peculiar 
to a country in a state of nature. These 
were the hereditary hunting grounds of 
the Shawnee, the Wyandott and the 
Miami, and they watched with the most 
vigilant and jealous eyes the intrusive 
white man with his chain and compass 
measuring their lands. Their prophetic 
vision penetrated the future and saw 
their cherished shades of sylvan beauty 
disappear before the devastating hand of 
civilization. Consequently they resent- 
ed every encroachment with a courage, a 
patient resolution and fortitude truly 
heroic. 

The surveyors generally chose the 
winter for their expeditions, because the 
Indians Were always more quiet during 
that season. The plan adopted for these 
expeditions was essentially militarv. 
Four or five surveyors were generally 
engaged in the same party. To each 
surveyor was attached six men, making 
a mess of seven. Every man had his 
prescribed duty to perform. The hunter 
went in front, and kept in advance of 
the surveyor two or three hundred yards, 
looking for game, and prepared to give 
notice should any danger from Indians 
threaten. Then followed the surveyor, 
the two chainmen, marker and pack- 
horsemen with the baggage, who always 
kept near each other to be prepared in 
case of an attack. Lastly, two or three 
hundred yards in the rear, came a man 



surprise. Each man, including the sur- 
veyor, carried his rifle, -tomahawk, scalp- 
ing knife and blanket, and any other 
article he might stand in need of. On 
\the pack horse was carried the cooking 
utensils and such provisions as could be 
conveniently taken. But nothing like 
bread was thought of. Some salt was 
taken. In this manner the surveying in 
Ohio was done. They did not carry any 
provisions with them from home, but 
depended on their rifles for supplies. At 
camp, sentinels were regularly posted 
during the night, and each map held 
himself in constant readiness for defense. 

Massie, having permanently establish- 
ed himself in his station, commenced 
making locations and surveys of land on 
a pretty extensive scale. In the early 
part of the winter of 1791-*92, he was 
engaged in surveying the lands on 
Brushcreek as far up as the three forks. 
Towards spring he shifted his party to 
the waters of the Little Miami, and ad- 
vanced up the river as far as the place 
now occupied by Xenky without molest- 
ation. Early one morning the party 
started out to perform the labors of the 
day. Massie was walking in advance of 
the party, when an Indian was perceiv- 
ed by Gen. William Lytle with nis gun 

E ointed at Massie, and in the act of firing. 

ytle, with great quickness, fired and 
killed the Indian. After this occurrence 
they advanced more cautiously and soon 
found themselves near an encampment 
of about one hundred and fifty Indians. 
The party commenced a hasty retreat, 
and were closely pursued. The retreat 
and pursuit continued without relaxatioh 
on the part of the Indians until the 
party reached Manchester in safety. 

During the winter of 1792- , 93, Massie 
continued to locate and survey the best 
lands within a reasonable distance of the 
station. He also, in company with 
Joseph Williams and one of the Wades, 
explored the Valley of Paint creek, and 
part of the Scioto country, and finding 
the bottoms rich beyond his expecta- 
tions, made entries of all the best lands, 
and returned in safetv to the station. 

In the midst oi the most appalling 
dangers, during the winter of 1793- , 94, 
Gen. Massie explored the different 
branches to their sources, which empty 
into the Little Miami river, and then 
assed in a northerly direction to the 
eads of Paint and Clear creeks, and the 
branches that form these streams. He 
thus formed from personal observation 
a correct knowledge of the geographical 
position of the country composing the 



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24 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



, Virginia Military District. 

Early in the winter of 1794~’95, Mas- 
sie again set out on a surveying expedi- 
tion with Nathaniel Beasley, John Beas- 
ley and Peter Lee as his assistant sur- 
veyors. The party left Manchester well 
equipped to enter and survey lands, or 
should necessity require, to give battle 
to the Indians. They took the route of 
Logan’s trace, and proceeded to a place 
called the Deserted Camp, on Todd’s 
Pork of the Little Miami. At this point 
they commenced surveying, and con- 
tinued till they surveyed large bodies of 
land./ They then passed / up Massie’s 
creek and Caesar’s creek nearly to their 
heads. By the time the party had pro- 
gressed thus far winter had set in, and 
the ground was covered with a sheet of 
snow from six to ten kiches deep. Dur- 
ing the tour, which continued upwards 
of thirty days, they had no bread. For 
the first two weeks a pint of flour was 
distributed to each mess once a day to 
mix with the soup in which the meat 
had been boiled. When night came 
four fires were made for cooking. Around 
these fires, until sleeping time arrived, 
the company spent their time in the 
most social manner, singing songs and 
telling stories. When danger was not 
apparent or immediate, McDonald, who 
was one of them, says they were as 
merry a set of fellows as ever assembled. 
When bed-time arrived Massie always 
gave the signal, and the whole party 
would then leave their comfortable fires, 
carrying with them their blankets, their 
fire-arms and their little baggage, and 
walking in perfect silence two or three 
hundred yards from their fires, they would 
stop, scrape away the snow, and huddle 
down together for the night. Each mess 
farming one bed; they would spread 
aown on the ground one-half of the 
blankets, reserving the other half for 
covering. The covering blankets were 
fastened together by skewers to prevent 
them from slipping apart Thus prepar- 
ed the whole mess crouched together, 
with their rifles in their arms, and their 
shot-pouches under their heads for pil- 
lows, lying spoon-fashion, with three 
heads one way and four the other, their 
feet extending to about the middle of 
their bodies. When one turned the 
whole mess turned, or else the close 
range would be broken and the cold let 
in. In this way they lay till broad day- 
light; no noise and scarce a whisper 
being uttered during the night. When 
it was perfectly light Massie would call 
up two of them in whom he had the 
most confidence, and send them to re- 
connoitre, and make a circuit around the 
encampment left the nighf before, lest 



an ambuscade might be formed by the 
Indians to destroy the, party as they re- 
turned to light up the fires. This was 
an invariable custom in every variety of 
weather. If immortality is due to the 
names of heroes who have successfully 
labored in the field of battle, no less 
honor is due to such as these, who equal- 
ly risked life, without the hope or pros- 
pect of fame, and with more real and 
permanent good to the country. 

The party continued to survey up 
Caesar’s creek, nearly to where its waters 
interlock with the waters of Paint creek. 
Late one evening they came upon the 
tracks of Indians in the snow. Some of 
the men were dispatched to search out 
the Indian encampment, while others 
were sent to collect in the assistant sur- 
veyors and their companies in order to 
have the whole force in a body, that they 
might be prepared either for attack or 
defense as circumstances might direct. 
About sun down the force was all collect- 
ed, and in a few minutes the two men 
returned who h^d been sent to discover 
the Indian encampment. They reported 
that they had approached as near the 
Indian camp as they could with safety, 
and that it consisted of eight or ten tents, 
and that from the noise about the en- 
campment they had no doubt but that 
there was a large number of the Indians. 
Gen. Massie therefore concluded 
that it would be too hazardous 
to attack them while the snow was on 
the ground, believing it would endanger 
the whole party if they should be com- 
pelled to retreat, encumbered with their 
wounded. He therefore resolved to quit 
surveying, and make a rapid retreat to 
his own station, not doubting but that 
be would be pursued, as the Indians 
would find no difficulty in tracking them 
in the snow. The line of mardi was 
formed lor home, and they traveled with 
all speed till about eleven o’clock at 
night, when they halted and remained 
till morning, when they again resumed 
their march in a southern direction. 
About twelve o’clock they came to a 
fresh trail, which was made by four 
horses and eight or ten footmen. This 
trail crossed diagonally, and was again 
struck upon after traveling a few miles. 
After a consultation with some of the 
most experienced of his party, Massie 
concluded Jthe Indians wnose trail had 
been crossed knew nothing of tHfem, 
and determined to follow them as long 
as they kept the direction in which they 
were then going. The pursuit of the 
Indians was kept up as fast as the men 
could walk until dark, without overtak- 
ing them. The party then halted to 
consult as to their future operations. 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 25 



In a few minutes the Indians were heard 
at work with their tomahawks, cutting 
wood and tent poles, within a few hun- 
dred yards of the place where the party 
of surveyors had halted. It was put to 
vote whether the Indian camp should 
be attacked immediately, or the attack 
be postponed till day-light. A majority 
were in favor of the latter. Two or 
three men were sent to reconnoitre the 
Indian encampment and bring away 
their horses. This was successfully done, 
and the party made preparations to lay 
by for the night. But Massie finally in- 
duced the party to make the attack about 
two hours after dark. The day had 
been warm and melted the snow, which 
was eight inches deep, and quite soft on 
the top. At night it began to freeze 
rapidly, and. by this time there was a 
hard crust on the surface. The men 
were formed in a line, in single file, with 
their wiping sticks in their hands to 
steady themselves when walking. They 
then commenced moving towards the 
Indian camp, the foremost man walking 
about twenty steps and halting, then 



the next in the line would move on, step- 
ping carefully in the tracks of the man 
who had preceded him, so as to avoid 
the noise made by breaking the crust of 
the snow. In this cautious and silent 
manner they crept within twenty-five 
yards of the Indian encampment. The 
Indians had not yet laid down to rest, 
but were singing and amusing themselves 
around their fires, never dreaming of 
danger in their own country in the 
middle of winter. The surveyors crept 
on until within a few rods of the camp, 
and fired upon the unsuspecting Indians, 
who fled, leaving arms and everything, 
tyut not one of them was killed. No at- 
tempt was made to pursue them. Their 
camp was plundered of horses, arms, &c., 
making altogether considerable booty. 
The party now resumed their march 
with all speed on the Indian ponies, 
and 'traveled night and day till they 
reached Manchester. They atterwards 
learned that they were closely pursued 
by Indians to within a few miles of 
home. 



CHAPTER VII. 

HARDSHIPS AND PRIVATIONS SUFFERED BY THE SURVEYORS— SIMON KENTON 
MAKES THE FIRST LOCATION IN HIGHLAND — EARLY ADVENTURES ABOUT 
MANCHESTER— THE CAPTURE OF ANDREW ELLISON— EXCITING RACE OF 
JOHN EDGINGTON— WAYNE’S VICTORY AND THE PEACE FOLLOWING— THE 
LAST INDIAN BATTLE ON THE SCIOTO— WILLIAM ROGERS AND REV. 



ROBERT FINLEY. 

E ARLY in March, 1795, Massie headed 
another surveying party and direct- 
ed his course to the waters of the 
Scioto and Paint. The weather was fine 
when they left Manchester, and spring 
seemed to have commenced in earnest. 
They surveyed on the head waters of 
Brushcreek, and passed on from there to 
the Rocky Fork of Paint, thence to the 
Rattlesnake Fork. They then crossed 
main Paint and passed up Buckskin and 
across to “the old town’’ on the North 
Fork of Paint While surveying in this 
section of country the weather became 
cloudy, and snow began to fall. The 
snow continued to fall and drift for two 
days and nights, and when it ceased the 
ground was covered between two and 
three feet deep. About the time it ceas- 
ed snowing the weather became warm 



and a soft rain fell for a short time. 
Suddenly it became intensely cold, and 
a hard strong crust soon formed on the 
snow. The snow was at least two feet 
deep after settling, and the crust would 
about bear half the weight of a man. 
The turkeys and other small game could 
run on the crust of the snow, but the 
hunters could not pursue, and as the 
party had no provisions with them, the 
doleful prospect of death by starvation 
stared them in the face. 

The prudence heretofore exercised of 
sleeping away from their fires was now 
disregarded. They lay around their fires 
day and night earnestly praying for a 
change in the weather. Some of the 
strongest and most intrepid of the men 
several times made ineffectual efforts to 
kill game. Among these hunters was 



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26 \ A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



Duncan McArthur, then a chain man, 
afterwards Governor of Ohio, and Wm. 
Leedom. On the third day of the storm 
thev killed two turkeys. They were 
boiled and divided into twenty-eight 
parts, one for each man, but this little 
food seemed only to sharpen their ap- 
petites. The fourth morning after the 
snow-fall, the party turned their faces 
homeward. The strongest and most 
hardy of the men were placed in front 
to break through the snow. This most 
fatiguing work was necessarily perform- 
ed alternately by the strongest and most 
spirited of the party. They thus pro- 
ceeded on their neavy and disconsolate 
march the whole day, and at night 
reached the mouth of Rattlesnake, a 
distance of only ten miles. The next 
day the sun shone through the clouds 
for the first time since the commence- 
ment of the storm, which greatly lessen- 
ed the labor of the march. The hunters 
now killed several turkeys, which*were 
cooked and equally divided among the 
men. That night the party lay by their 
fires without any sentinels, and as the 
night was warm the snow melted con- 
siderably. Early the next morning 
most of the party turned out to hunt, 
and killed a number of turkeys, some 
deer and bear. When these were 
brought into camp a feast commenced, 
which was enjoyed with a zest and relish 
which none can properly appreciate 
who have not been similarly situated. 

The hardships and privations of this 
expedition are spoken of by McDonald, 
to whom we are indebted for the facts 
above recorded, as the most trying to the 
firmness, resolution and fortitude of man 
he ever witnessed. Twenty* eight men 
exposed to the horrors of a terrible snow 
storm in the wilderness, without tent, 
hut or covering, and what was still more 
appalling, without provisions, without 
any road or even a blazed route on which 
to retreat, and nearly one hundred miles 
from aid or place of shelter, is truly a 
situation little short of the worst, and 
can hardly be appreciated by the people 
of the present time, who now inhabit 
this county, sheltered from the storm and 
cold in comfortable and elegant mansions. 

The storm being past, fine weather and 
plenty ensued, and the party again went 
cheerfully to work till the purpose of the 
expedition was accomplished, when they 
all returned to Manchester. 

The lands in that part of the Virginia 
Military District, known as Highland 
county, were not entered and surveyed 
as early as some other parts of it. There 
was, however, one entry made in it by 
Simon Kenton as early as September 7th, 
1791, which doubtless was among the 



very first made in the District. This 
entry was on the Rocky Fork, three 
miles south-east of Hillsboro, and has 
acquired considerable celebrity from the 
long and spirited litigation to which it 
gave rise. It was a five hundred acre 
entry made on lour Military warrants in 
the name of Samuel Gibson. From the 
settlement at Chillicothe in 1796, the 
lands of the present county of Highland 
were rapidly taken up. Robert Todd, a 
deputy under Col. R. C. Anderson, was 
an . early surveyor in the county, also 
John Beasley, Henry Massie, brother of 
Gen. Massie, Gen. McArthur and Jo. 
Carr. 

An ordinance for the government of 
the territory north-west of the river Ohio 
passed Congress on the 13th of July, 1787, 
and Gen. Arthur St. Clair was appointed 
Governor, Winthrop Sergeant, Secretary, 
and Samuel H. Parsons, John M. Varnum 
and John Clives Simmes, Judges. The 
Territorial Government was organized 
during the summer of 1788, and some 
necessary laws adopted by the Governor 
and Judges, and shortly afterwards the 
county of Washington, the first in the 
Territory, having its limits extending 
west to the Scioto river and north to 
Lake Erie, and embracing nearly one-half 
of the surface within the present limits 
of the State of Ohio, was established by 
proclamation of the Governor. Hamil- 
ton county was the next. It was estab- 
lished by proclamation on the 2d of Jan- 
uary, 1790. At this period there was no 
fixed seat of Government. The laws 
were passed whenever they seemed to 
be needed, and promulgated at any 'place 
where the Governor and Judges happen- 
ed to be assembled. The Judges appoint- 
ed by the National Executive constitut- 
ed the Supreme Court of the Territory. 
Inferior to this court were the County 
Courts of Common Pleas and the Gener- 
al Quarter Sessions of the peace. Single 
judges of the Common Pleas and single 
justices of the Quarter Session were also 
clothed with certain civil and criminal 
powers to be exercised out of court. The 
general court was fixed at Cincinnati and 
Marietta. In 1795 the Governor and 
Judges assembled at Cincinnati and con- 
tinued in session two months, revising 
the laws of the Territory, and adopting 
additional laws from the statues of the 
old States. 

The Northwestern Territory early at- 
tracted the attention of persons of the 
old States contemplating a removal to 
the West, and its merits, when known, 
placed it in successful rivalry with Ken- 
tucky. But even after the organization 
of the Territorial Government under the 
act of Congress, and the establishment of 



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27 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



the military posts at the mouth ot the 
Muskingum and Fort Washington, emi- 
gration was still held in check by the de- 
termined hostility of the Indians { and its 
main current continued to flow into the 
rich country on the south and more se- 
cure bank of the river. About seven 
years elapsed after the first permanent 
settlement in the Territory before the 
country was entirely free from the dan- 
gers and alarms incident to savage hostil- 
ity, and during much of this period the 
Indians were constantly on the alert, and 
many sanguinary battles were fought be- 
tween them and the resolute pioneers on 
what is now the soil of Ohio. Their 
predatory bands were untiringly travers- 
ing the woods in the vicinity of the forti- 
fied settlements on the river banks, and 
picking off unwary stragglers and hunt- 
ers, or seizing a favorable opportunity, at 
an unguarded moment, and boldly assail- 
ing the stockade itself. 

in the spring of 1793, says McDonald, 
the settlers of Manchester commenced 
clearing the out lots of the town. An- 
drew Ellison, one of the settlers, cleared 
a lot immediately adjoining the fort. 
He had completed the cutting of the 
timber, rolled the logs and set the heaps 
on fire. The next morning, just about 
daybreak, he opened one of the gates of 
the fort and went out to throw his logs 
together. By the time he had finished 
this a number of the heaps blazed up 
brightly, and, as he was passing from 
one to the other, he observed, by the 
light of the fires, three men walking 
briskly towards him. This, however, did 
not alarm him, although he perceived 
they were dark skinned fellows, for it at 
once occured to him that they were the 
Wades, whose complexions were very 
dark, going out for an early hunt. So 
he continued to right up his log-heaps, 
until one of the fellows seized him by 
the arms, and called out in broken Eng- 
lish “How do ? how do ?” when to his 
surprise and horror he became conscious 
that he was in the clutches of three 
Indians. He therefore submitted to his 
fate without any resistance or attempt 
to escape. 

The Indians quickly and quietly mov- 
ed off with him in the direction of Main 
Paint. When his absence was discover- 
ed Massie started with a party in pursuit. 
They followed on to Paint Creek, when 
they found the Indians had gone north, 
and so far in advance of them that they 
had no hope of overtaking them, they 
therefore abandoned the pursuit and re- 
turned to the station. The Indians took 
their prisoner to Upper Sandusky, com- 
pelled him to run the gauntlet, Ac. They 
then took him to Detroit, where he was 



generously ransomed by a British officer 
for one hundred dollars, who sent him 
to Montreal, from whence he returned 
home before the close of the summer. 

Another incident connected with this 
period and the Manchester settlement is 
equally characteristic of the pioneer 
days on the southern border of the 
present State of Ohio. John Edgington, 
Asahel Edgington and another started 
out on a hunting expedition towards 
Brushcreek, and camped out in the 
woods, between where West Union and 
Fairfax now stand. The Edgingtons had 
good success in hunting, having killed a 
number of deer and bear. Of the deer 
killed, they saved the skins and hams 
only. The bears they fleeced, by cutting 
off all the meat which adhered to the 
hide without skinning, and leaving the 
bones. They hung up the proceeds of 
their hunt on a scaffold, out of the reach 
of the wolves and other animals, and re- 
turned home for pack horses. The two 
Edgingtons went back to the camp alone. 
It was late in December, and they ap- 
prehended no danger, as the winter 
season was usually a season of repose 
from Indian incursions. When they ar- 
rived at the camp they alighted from 
their horses and were preparing to strike 
a fire, when they were fired upon by an 
ambuscade of Indians, not more than 
twenty steps distant. Asahel Edgington 
fell dead, but John was more fortunate. 
The sharp crack of the rifles, and fright- 
ful yells of the savages as they leaped 
from their place of concealment scared 
the horses, and they took the track 
towards home at full speed. John Edg- 
ington was very active on foot, and the 
occasion required his utmost speed. The 
moment the Indians leaped from their 
hiding place they threw down their guns 
and gave chase. They pursued him, 
screaming and yelling in the most savage 
manner. For near a mile the Indians 
stepped in his tracks before the bended 

g rass could rise, and the uplifted toma- 
awk was frequently so near his head 
that he fancied he actually felt its edge. 
Every effort was made by him for life, 
and every exertion by the Indians to ar- 
rest him in his flight. But Edgington, 
who had the greatest stake in the race, 
at length began to gain on his pursuers, 
and finally, after a Tong race, he distanc- 
ed them, made his escape, and safely 
reached home. 

Immediately after the disastrous de- 
feat of St. Clair, President Washington 
urged forward the vigorous prosecution 
of the war for the protection of the 
North-western Territory, but various 
obstacles retarded the enlistment and 
organization of a new army till the spring 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



of 1794. The forces finally assembled at 
Greenville, in what is flow Darke county, 
under the command of Gen. Anthony 
Wayne, a bold and experienced officer 
of the Revolution. His forces consisted 
of about two thousand regular troops 
and fifteen hundred mounted volunteers 
from Kentucky. Wayne had arrived on 
the ground with apart of bis forces the 
previous December, and built a strong 
fort which he named Fort Greenville. 
The Indians had collected their entire 
force amounting to about two thousand 
men at the foot of the rapids of the 
Maumee river. On the 28th of July, 
Wayne marched his army to meet the 
enemy, and encountered them on the 
20th of August. After a short and dead- 
ly conflict, the Indians fled in the great- 
est confusion. After destroying their 
houses and corn fields, the victorious 
army returned to the mouth of Auglaize, 
where Wayne erected Fort Defiance. 
Previous to this action, various fruitless 
attempts had been made to bring the 
Indians to peace, and some of the mes- 
sengers sent among them for that pur- 
pose had been murdered. This victory 
did not, however, at first bring the sav- 
ages to submission. Their country was 
laid waste, and forts erected in the heart 
of their territory before they could be 
entirely subdued. At length they be- 
came thoroughly convinced of their in- 
ability to resist the American arms, and 
sued for peace. A grand council was 
held at Fort Greenville, in which eleven 
of the most powerful North-western 
tribes were represented, to whom Gen. 
Wayne dictated the terms of the treaty, 
which was finally concluded on tke 3d of 
August, 1795. Thirteen hundred Indians 
were present, and the basis of the treaty 
was tne permanent cessation of hostili- 
ties and the restoration of all prisoners. 
Boundaries were fixed between the ter- 
ritory allowed the Indians and the lands 
of the United States, and thus one of the 
chief causes of strife between the sons 
of the forest and the adventurous pioneer 
and hunter was removed. When W” ay ne 
arrived at the site of Fort Greenville, in 
the winter of *93, he sent a detachment 
of men to the spot of St. Clair’s defeat. 
They arrived on the ground on Christ- 
mas day, and pitched their tents on the 
battle field, and when the men went to 
lie down at night in their tents they had 
to serape the bones together and cany 
them out before they could make their 
beds. _ The next day holes were dug and 
the bones remaining above ground were 
buried; six hundred skulls being found 
among them. The flesh was entirely off 
the bones, but in many cases the sinews 
yet held them together. After this 



melancholy duty was performed, a forti- 
fication was bkilt and named Fort Re- 
covery, in commemoration of its being 
recovered from the Indians, who had 
possession of the ground in 1791. 

During the summer of ’95, owing to 
the strong probability of peace with the 
Indians, a decided inclination to emi- 
grate to Ohio manifested itself in Ken 
tucky . Three years previous a const! 
tution had been framed for that State, 
on which it was received into the Union 
June 1st, 1792, which tolerated slavery 
This caused many to prepare for emi- 
gration as soon as it could be done with 
safety, to where slavery would probably 
never be authorized. Accordingly, many 
cabins were raised along the northern 
bank of the Ohio and Brush and Eagle 
Creeks, and the fertility of the soil on 
Paint Creek, and throughout the Scioto 
Valley, began to attract attention. As 
Gen. Massie had, some years before, 
entered and surveyed the land in that 
section, and was the owner of large tracts, 
he determined, at all hazards, to attempt 
a settlement at some point in the Scioto 
Valley. For the purpose of attracting 
settlers, he published a notice of his in- 
tention to lay off a town, and offered as 
an inducement to the first hundred set- 
tlers, a donation of lots, provided they 
would build cabins on them, or other- 
wise become permanent settlers in the 
vicinity. A party was soon formed to 
explore the country, and select the site 
of the town. 

While Wayne was in treaty with the 
Indians, the party, composed of forty 
or fifty men, set out from Manchester. 
In this party was the Rev. Robert Fin- 
ley, William Rogers, father of Col. 
Thomas Rogers, of Greenfield, in the 
present county of Highland, and Amos 
Evans, Tong a resident on dear Creek, 
in the vicinity ot the present town of 
Hillsboro. 

After proceeding several days cau- 
tiously, the company struck Paint Creek 
near the falls. Here they found fresh 
Indian signs, and had not traveled far 
before they heard the bells on their 
horses. A council was now held. 
Some of the most experienced thought 
it was tob late to retreat, and advised as 
the best course to take the enemy by 
surprise. The Indians, it appeared, 
were encamped on Paint Creek, precise- 
ly at what is now called the Reeves* 
crossing. The party came on them by 
surprise, and the battle was soon decid- 
ed in favor of the whites. The Indians 
fled across the creek, leaving all behind 
them but their guns. Several of them 
were killed and wounded. One white 
man, named Joshua Robinson, was shot 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY \ OHIO. 29 



through the body. These Indians were 
Shawnees, and would not go into the 
treaty with Wayne. They had been on 
the war path, and had one prisoner with 
them, who made his escape to the 
whites, when the attack was made. As 
soon as the company could gather up all 
the Indian horses, skins and other 
plunder, they placed poor Robinson on 
a hastily constructed litter, and com- 
menced a rapid retreat. Robinson died 
of his wound shortly after they started, 
and some of the men were detached to 
perform the last rites of burial, while 
the others continued their hurried 
march. This duty was soon performed, 
as well as the circumstances would 
admit. Robinson was a Pennsylvanian, 
and had merely came west on a visit, 
being a brother-in-law to Judge Rich- 
ard Evans, one of the early settlers of 
this county. Night overtook the re- 
treating party in the hills some miles 
south of the present town of Bainbridge, 
and as they expected to be pursued by 
the Indians, they made preparations for 
a night attack on their encampment. 
Sentinels were posted, and the utmost 
care and caution observed in the ar- 
rangements for defense. At about an 
hour before day the next morning, one 
of the sentinels observed an Indian 
slowly creeping up on him. He waited 
till he came sufficiently close, when he 
fired. The Indian fell, but rose again 
and made off. The attack was then 
made with vigor on the camp from one 
quarter. The whites resisted with their 
accustomed courage and skill. After 
an hour’s contest the Indians retreated. 
Several horses were killed, and one 
man, a Mr. Gelflllen, shot through the 
thigh. The loss of the Indians was 
never ascertained. This was the last 
Indian fight on the waters of the Scioto. 

William Rogers, above named, was a 
Pennsylvanian by birth, but emigrated 
with his father, Hamilton Rogers and 
family, to Loudon county, Virginia, 
about the year 1770, when, a few years 
afterwards, be married and settled 
down on what was called a life lease on 
the waters of Goose Creek. But short- 
ly after he commenced operations on 
his new farm, he found himself sur- 
rounded by slaveholders. At length he 
became so much annoyed by witnessing 
the practical operations of the system, 
that ne determined to seek some coun- 
try where it did not exist. According- 
ly, in the year 1783, or *84, he made a 
tour over the mountains, as it was term- 
ed in those times, with a view to find a 
home. When he arrived at the settle- 
ment of Redstone, now Brownsville, 
Pennsylvania, he found the country all 



in motion for Kentucky. He was pleas- 
ed with the accounts he heard of that 
country, and determined to make it his 
future home. The next spring, he ac- 
cordingly set out in company with one 
of his brothers for the cane country. 
They traveled by the river from Red- 
stone to Limestone, now Maysville, and 
thence to Lexington. Some five miles 
south of that place, they camped in 
the woods near a locality known as 
Walnut Hills. At this place they made 
a crop of corn. During the summer, 
William Rogers, having found the 
country fully equal to his anticipations, 
returned to Virginia for the family, 
and sometime in November, 1785, all 
landed safe at their new home, much 
delighted with the country. Here they 
lived iu peace and quiet till the next 
spring, when an alarm of Indians was 
spread among them, which aroused the 
war spirits of the old patriots, and an 
expedition was soon set on foot to pur- 
sue the savage invaders, and if possible, 
retake the horses and other stolen prop- 
erty. This expedition was commanded 
by either Clark or Logan, both celebrat- 
ed as leaders of the Kentucky Indian 
fighters. They crossed the Ohio, at or 
near the falls, and pursued the enemy 
into the Wabash Valley, but were 
unable to overtake them. William 
Rogers was in this expedition. Shortly 
after this, he moved to Bourbon coun- 
ty, and resided there till the adoption of 
the State Constitution in 1792, and find- 
ing that Kentucky had been made a 
slave State, he determined to leave that 
beautiful country as soon as the North- 
western Territory was open for settle- 
ment. Accordingly, in 1799, accompan- 
ied by two of his sons, John and 
Thomas, he set out for the Scioto coun- 
try, and on arriving, they commenced 
a settlement on the North fork of Paint, 
at the point where the turnpike road 
now crosses it, which was the first im- 
provement made on that branch of 
Paint, and their cabin was the only one 
between that place and Chillicothe, ex- 
cept Gen. McArthur’s near the town. 

Of Robert Finley, another one of that 
party, who afterwards became a citi- 
zen of Highland county, little need be 
said, as his history is certainly familiar 
to all. He was of the genuine pioneer 
stock, bom in Pennsylvania, and edu- 
cated at Princeton College, New Jersey, 
he early became a licensed clergyman 
of -the Presbyterian Church, at which 
time there were pressing calls for min- 
isterial labor in the new settlements of 
the Carolinas and Georgia, to which 
Finley yielded, and went as a mission- 
ary to North Carolina, where he labor- 



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30 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 



ed for three years. Here he made the 
acquaintance of Boone. From this ac- 
quaintance grew a strong desire to 
visit Kentucky, which he gratified in 
the spring of 1784. But this was mere- 
ly an exploring expedition. He was de- 
lighted with the country, but on his re- 
turn, found it inconvenient to remove 
his family at that time to the West. 
He, however, left Carolina and took up 
his residence in Virginia, where he con- 
tinued his labors as a minister. Not 
satisfied yet, and still yearning for Ken- 
tucky, he, in the course of the next two 
years, crossed the mountains to the Bed- 
stone region, where he gathered a con- 
gregation and preached with great 
success. Here he labored for two years, 
but still discontented and anxious to 
make his home in the land of promise 
—Kentucky— he set out in the fall of 



1788 with his family, and landed safe at 
Limestone, and took up his residence 
shortly after in Washington, Mason 
county, Kentucky. In the winter of 
1789, he purchased land in the vicinity 
of Stockton's Station, near the present 
town of Flemingsburg, and built a 
cabin in which he took up his abode. 
This was the frontier house of the set- 
tlement, there being none between it 
and the Ohio. It had port holes and 
was otherwise prepared for defense. 
Here he was in constant danger from 
incursions of the Indians. He, however, 
managed to preach to two congrega- 
tions, and opened a school in which he 
gave instructions in the language. In 
the fall of 1796 Mr. Finley emancipated 
all his slaves, and removed to the 
Scioto country to aid in building up 
the infant settlement of Chillicothe. 



o 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Habits and customs of the pioneers, and the hardships and priva- 
tions THEY ENDURED— THE SETTLEMENT AT CHILLICOTHE, AND THE 
MEANS EMPLOYED TO STIMULATE ITS RAPID GROWTH AS A TOWN— THE 

4 * 

TREATY OF GREENVILLE, BY WHICH PERMANENT PEACE WAS SECURED 
TO THE NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY. 



H AVING passed in review the heroic 
days of the West, a contemplative 
pause on the verge of the new era 
which followed may not be entirely 
without interest or advantage. The 
people of this day in Ohio can not do 
too much honor to the men who opened 
the way to the settlements which are 
now matured into homes of comfort, 
elegance and beauty, and although 
many of them sleep in forgotten graves, 
and their very names have no place of 
record save the hearts of a very small 
number— relics, as it were of the past 
more than denizens of the present— 
who are just themselves tottering into 
the tomb, yet each son and daughter of 
this soil, o’er which they so often pur- 
sued the Indians, or were in turn 

S ursued by them, or trailed the weary 
mits of the hunter, the surveyor or 
the explorer, and in whose forests of 
unbroken gloom and wildness they so 
often, amid storms, danger and de^bh, 
encamped to snatch a few hours neces- 
sary repose, ought to reverence the 
very name of Pioneer. That is the 



designation of the class, and includes 
all , whether remembered or forgotten, 
who formed the vanguard and carried 
forward the column of civilization into 
the wilderness of the north-west. 

The era of the moocasin, the buckskin 
hunting shirt, breeches and leggins; 
of the fox skin cap, the rifle and scalp- 
ing knife, the night repose under a 
tree, log, or the more luxurious bark 
camp, and the encounters with the bear, 
panther, or Indian, is now dim in the 
distance, and the people of this day, 
who can so far forget themselves and 
their immediate surroundings as to 
pause to contemplate those rough and 
uncouth looking men, and the wild and 
fearful-scenes m which they so nobly 
acted, can not, without an effort, realize 
the truth, that these same savage, un- 
courtly accoutered woodsmen were the 
fathers of this portion of the great 
West, and the progenitors of many of 
its refined and luxurious inhabitants. 

Many of the Western Pioneers, says 
one who was himself of them, were 
warriors by profession and courted dan- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 31 



ger for danger’s sake, who on account 
of their daring intrepidity were wel- 
come guests wherever they went. 
Others there were, whose views were 
more enlarged, and who with equal 
courage put danger at defiance, keeping 
a steady eye to push forward the bounds 
of civilization in the vast wilds of the 
West. Such were the leaders of the 
hardy woodsmen who were engaged in 
making new settlements on the borders 
of the river Ohio and its tributary 
streams. Some one of these master 
spirits led the way in each settlement 
that was made, in spite of the Indians, 
whose restless and continued incursions 
caused every cabin to be raised at the 
risk of life, and every settlement to be 
made under the most trying and peril- 
ous circumstances. The rapiditv of the 
advancement of art and improvements 
seems so great at this day that the few 
weather-beaten pioneers who yet linger 
amongst us can not but look around 
them with surprise and wonder. In 
the lapse of a few years — an apparently 
very brief space of time — they behold 
the country that they knew far better 
in its forest state than now, all check- 
ered over with farms, villages and 
cities, and instead of the humble log 
cabin, so dear to the memory, splendid 
mansions, the abodes of ease and ele- 
gance, greet the eye. Roads and canals, 
where first was the Indian’s trail, and 
the palace steamboat, instead of the 
frail emigrant boat, or the dreaded 
canoe of the red man. 

The toils, hardships and dangers of the 
pioneer were not, however, unbroken by 
pleasures none the less keenly relished 
for springing in the wilderness. The soil 
adjoining cabin stations on the banks of 
(lie Ohio was easily cultivated, and very 
productive, readily supplying their few 
wants in the way of bread, ana the woods 
abounded in almost every variety of 
game. Deer, elk. bear, buffalo and 
turkeys were abundant, while the river 
furnished a variety of excellent fish. 
Luxuries, says McDonald, were entirely 
unknown, except old Monongahela 
double distilled, which was in great de- 
mand in those days, and freely used 
when it could be obtained. Coffee and 
tea were rare articles not much prized or 
sought after. The inhabitants were 
generally as playful as kittens, and as 
happy in their way as their hearts could 
desire. The men spent most of their 
time, when not on the war path, in 
hunting and fishing, ana almost every 
evening the boys and girls footed mer- 
rily to the tune of the fiddle. Thus was 
their time spent in that happy state of 
indolence and ease, which none but the 



hunter or herdsman condition of society 
can enjoy. They had no civil officers to 
settle their difficulties with each other, 
nor priests to direct their morals, yet 
crime among them was of very rare 
occurrence. Should any one who 
chanced to be amongst them prove 
troublesome and disturb the harmony 
oi the community, his expulsion forth- 
with would be the consequence, and woe 
be to him if he again attempted to in- 
trude himself upon them. 

The manner of these pioneers among 
themselves was affectionate and familiar. 
They addressed each other by their 
Christian names only, which custom ap- 
peared to them the most friendly and 
sociable mode of intercourse. To one of 
these old men who looks back on those 
days it muBt seem as if money making 
and the selfishness incident to it had 
frozen up all the avenues to the heart — 
that the frank and social intercourse 
which was then the sunshine of society 
is gone, and the cold, calculating spirit 
of accumulation has succeeded. But 
while they can not but feel the change, 
and occasionally cast a regretful thougnt 
back through the accumulated space of 
sixty years and upwards, they are con- 
scious that they were but acting the part 
assigned them, in which the modern art 
of money getting formed no ingredient. 
Their mission was simply to prepare the 
way, while that of their more fortunate 
successors is to cultivate, embellish and 
enjoy the heritage. If in this they have 
grown selfish, arrogant and forgetful, it 
is but natural, for all their efforts neces- 
sarily center in self. Not so with the 
rough old pioneers, who were, though 
often unconsciously, laboring for others. 
The consequence was that much of the 
inate nobleness of heart was developed 
in them, while all the baser elements 
were left dormant. With the people of 
this enlightened and property loving 
day the reverse is doubtless true to a 
great extent, and it is painful to record 
the fact that intense selfishness has lit- 
erally dried up the modicum of the 
milk of human kindness compassionate- 
ly allotted to frail humanity. Bravery 
and endurance were the leading char- 
acteristics of the early pioneers, and to 
exhibit these in an eminent degree, was 
to be distinguished and respected. The 
possession of wealth, or even property, 
was not then, as now, evidence of high 
moral and intellectual .capacity, and 
therefore a sure passport to the confidence 
and favor of society. It has been said 
that there is a nobility above birth, and 
riches above wealth, and of men, that 
the bravest is ever the noblest. This 
principle seems to have been adopted 



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32 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



by society in the early pioneer days, and 
if it be correct, the nobility of the 
frontier men remains unrivaled. But 
that there is a riches above wealth, was 
evidenced by the lives of these men, as 
history and tradition has transmitted 
them There were none of the vexati ons 
and heart-burnings generated by rival 
grades or casts in their small communi- 
ties. Enterprise and courage to carry it 
forward gave to each one the knowledge 
of his own capacity, while sincere friend- 
ship and entire confidence in times of 
danger cemented them together as a 
band of true and generous brothers. 
Their hearts were buoyant with health 
and hope, and when danger was hot im- 
mediate they were doubtless the happi- 
est, and as a consequence, the richest of 
the children of earth. But the result of 
their simple, though heroic lives, has 
secured untold blessings to their chil- 
dren and successors, therefore let all 
honor be awarded to the ^ noble old 
pioneers. An eloquent American writer 
on this subject says : “Is the memory 
of our forefathers unworthy of historic 
or sepulchral commemoration? No 
people on earth, in similar circumstances, 
ever acted more nobly or more bravely 
than they did. No people of any coun- 
try or age made greater sacrifices for the 
benefit of their posterity than those 
which were made by the first settlers of 
the western regions. What people ever 
left such noble legacies to posterity as 
those transmitted by our forefathers to 
their descendants ?’ ’ 

At the first dawn of peace, undeterred 
by the failure of the expedition named 
in a former chapter, another party was 
formed at Manchester destined for the 
Scioto country, a part of whom went by 
water up the Ohio and Scioto rivers, 
and the remainder by land. The point 
agreed upon for meeting was at the 
mouth of Paint, at a place afterwards 
known as “Station Prairie.” The party 
who went by water took, besides a few 
of the necessaries of life, farming 
utensils, and other articles needed in 
commencing a permanent settlement. 

On the first day of April, 1796, they 
landed their goods, and commenced the 
erection of their cabins and preparations 
for planting corn. Three hundred acres 
of the rich prairie were soon turned up 
by the plows, and for the first time in 
that region was heard the cheerful sounds 
of the plowman’s voice. 

That season was one of prosperity to 
the settlers, and although they occasion- 
ally suffered from want of the necessaries 
of life, yet they were soon relieved by 
the luxuriant crops of their plantation. 
No disturbance occurred with the 



Indians, then their immediate neighbors. 
They seemed disposed to preserve in- 
violate the conditions of the treaty of 
peace, and mixed with tl>e settlers in 
the most friendly manner. 

While these things were transpiring at 
the settlement, Gen. Massie, McArthur 
and others were engaged in laying out 
the present city of Chillicothe, on the* 
banks of the Scioto, which thenceforth 
became the nucleus of the settlement. 

After the necessary steps had been 
taken to run off the lots, streets and 
alleys of the town by blazing and mark- 
ing the trees of the thick woods, the 
proprietor, Gen. Massie, held a consulta- 
tion with his friends as to the name of 
the town, and finally adopted the Indian 
name, Chillicothe, which means in their 
tongue simply “town.” One hundred out- 
lots were chosen by lot by the first hun- 
dred settlers, as a donation from the pro- 
prietor. A number of in-lots and out-lots 
were also sold to other persons desiring 
to settle in the town. The first choice 
of in-lots was sold for ten dollars each. 
The town increased rapidly, and before 
the commencement of the winter of that 
year it had in it several stores, taverns 
and mechanic shops. The adjacent rich 
lowlands were laid off in small lots of 
one and two hundred acres, and sold 
either for cash or on credit, at from one 
to two dollars per acre. The consequence 
was that the settlement grew with great 
rapidity, its fertility and beauty having 
been heralded years before through the 
older settlements of Kentucky, Western 
Pennsylvania and Virginia. A descrip- 
tion of these bottoms, to be faithful, 
would be next to impossible, as they ap- 
peared to the wondering gaze of the 
newly arrived emigrant m their native 
dress. The soil itself was not excelled 
for richness by any in the world. The 
lofty sugartree spreading its beautiful 
branches, the graceful elm, black walnut, 
oak, hickory, cherry and hackberry, the 
spicewood and sassafras, with their 
fragrance, and the pawpaw and the wild 
plum, the grape vine and the blackberry, 
with their luscious fruit. Beneath all ot 
which, the wild rye, green and luxuriant 
as a wheat field in May, mixed with the 
prairie and buffalo clover— all combined 
to form a scene of enchanting grandeur. 
The clear and beautiful rivulet, says J. 
B. Finley, creeping through the grass, 
and softly rippling over pebbly bottoms, 
the gentle zephyrs freighted with 
nature’s incense, pure and sweet, regal- 
ed our senses and filled us with delight. 
All nature had a voice which spoke most 
impressively to the soul, and while all 
the senses were pervaded with an un- 
utterable delight, the solemn stillness 



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A HISTORY OF HIQHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



seemed to say, God reigns here. 

The treaty of Greenville having fixed 
the boundaries to the Indian Territory 
and secured peace on a permanent basis, 
and thus removed the barriers which 
had so long been insurmountable, the 
tide of emigration to Southern Ohio 
commenced fipwing in a strong and 
steady stream. Most of the necessary 
steps to a general settlement throughout 
the Military District had already been 
taken. The country had been thorough- 
ly explored, and much of it surveyed. 
Landing points on the river, such as 
Marietta, Gallipolis, Manchester and 
Cincinnati furnished new-comers a rest- 
ing place till they could look around for 
a new home, in anticipation of which 
they had severed the ties which had 
bound them to the old. All, therefore, 
seemed to be in complete readiness and 
anxiously awaiting the era, which was 
ushered in by Wayne's brilliant and 
conclusive victory at the battle of the 
Fallen Timbers, and inaugurated short- 
ly after by the treaty at Greenville. 

The settlement at Marietta rapidly 
extended itself up the valley of the 
Muskingum, and that at Gallipolis north 
into the adjacent country as fai* as the 
present town of Lancaster, which was 
then the principal town of the Wyandott 
Nation. Zdne’s Trace from Wheeling 
to Limestone, made in the fall of 1796, 
assing through the point now occupied 
y Chillicotbe, guided maUy to that 
place the following spring and summer, 
while the navigation of the Scioto river, 
being now free from the vigilant eye 
and hostile rifle of the savage, offered 
another convenient* opening to the in- 
terior. The route from Kentucky 
through Manchester was also known, 
so that apart from the fatigues incident 
to a tedious journey through the wilder- 
ness, no obstacles appeared between the 
Revolutionary soldier of the Virginia 
Continental Line and the dearly earned 
reward of his services. Chillicothe be- 
came at once the centre of attraction, 
and the headquarters of the emigrants. 



land owners and speculators. 

On the 15th day of August, 1796, Gov. 
St. Clair, by proclamation, established 
Wayne county, which included within 
its territorial boundaries all the north- 
western part of Ohio, a large tract of 
the north-eastern part of Indiana, a 
considerable part of Illinois and Wis- 
consin, and the whole of the present 
State of Michigan. This was the third 
county in the North-western Territory, 
and was named for Gen. Anthony 
Wayne, who was born in Chester coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, January 1st, 1745. 
He early became a surveyor and 
engineer, and having enlisted in the 
army of the Revolution in 1775, 
was made a Brigadier General two 
years afterwards, in which capacity he 
continued to serve during the war. 
He particularly distinguished himself 
at the battles of Brandywine, German- 
town and Monmouth, and his attack 
upon Stony Point in July, *779, an al- 
most inaccessible height, defended by 
six hundred men and a strong battery 
of artillery, was perhaps the most 
brilliant exploit of the war. At mid- 
night he led his troops with unloaded 
muskets, flints out and fixed bayonets, 
ahd without firing a single gun, carried 
the Fort by storm, taking five hundred 
and sixty-three prisoners. In the at- 
tack he was struck by a musket ball in 
the head, which was. at that moment, 
supposed to be a mortal wound, but he 
called to his aids to carry him forward 
that he might die in the Fort his party 
wefe so heroically storming. 

The crowning acts of his life were his 
victory over the Indians on the Mau- 
mee, and the treaty with the savage 
tribes which followed. His life of 
peril and glorv was terminated in 1796, 
in a cabin at Presque Isle— now Erie, 
Pa.,— then in the wilderness. His body 
was there buried, at his own request, 
under the flag staff of the Fort on the 
shore of Lake Erie. In 1809 his son re- 
moved his remains to Delaware county, 
Pennsylvania. 



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CHAPTER IX. 



ORGANIZATION OF ADAMS AND ROSS COUNTIES — FIRST SETTLEMENT WITHIN 
THE LIMITS OF HIGHLAND AT SINKING SPRING — JOHN W1LCOXON, THE 
PIONEER HOUSEHOLDER— EARLY LIQUOR LEGISLATION IN THE TERRITORY 
—APPOINTMENT OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, AND THEIR PECULIAR IDEAS 
OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE— CAUSES WHICH RETARDED THE 
GROWTH OF THE CHILLICOTHE COMMUNITY, AND LED TO THE SETTLE- 
MENT OF HIGHLAND. 



I N July, 1797, Adams county was es- 
tablished by proclamation of Gov. St. 
Clair. It comprehended a large tract 
of country lying on both sides of the 
Scioto river and extending north-west 
to Wayne. This county was named 
for old John Adams, and embraced 
within its boundaries most, if not all, 
of what is now Highland. It was the 
fourth county organized in the Terri- 
tory. The first court in this county 
was held at Manchester. Commission- 
ers, appointed by the acting Governor, 
soon afterwards located the county seat 
a few miles above the mouth of Brush- 
creek, at Adamsville, to which place 
the seat of justice was removed, and a 
log Court House and jail erected. The 
Manchester people were greatly oppos- 
ed to this location of the county seat, 
and kept up a warm contest until its 
permanent settlement by the location 
of West Union in 1804 as the seat of 
justice of the county. The chief part 
of the present county of Highland, em- 
braced originally within Adams, was 
appropriated the next year by the 
erection of Ross'county. This county 
was established by proclamation of 
Gov. 8t. Clair on the 20th of August, 
1798. The original lines of which coun- 
ty were quite extensive, embracing 
much of the present territory of the 
adjoining counties. Chillicothe be- 
came at once the seat of justice. 

During the continuance of the exist- 
ence of civil jurisdiction by Adams 
county over what is now Highland, 
there were but two householders of the 
European race resident within its pres- 
ent limits. John Wilcoxon had the 
honor of being the first settler on the 
soil of the present county of Highland. 
In the spring of 1795 he emigrated from 
Kentucky, crossing the river at Lime- 
stone, and boldly pushed out into the 



vast and pathless Northwestern Territo- 
ry, determined to establish himself and 
family in the midst of its best hunting 
grounds, regardless of the prior claim of 
the Indians. With his worldly wealth, 
wife and child stowed upon the back of 
a strong horse, and himself and dog on 
foot in advance, he struck out in the di- 
rection of the even then famous rich 
lands of the Scioto and Main Paint 
country. He traversed the hills for sev- 
eral days, camping out at night and fre- 
quently remaining four or five days at a 
place to hunt and rest his wife and 
norse. The weather continued delight- 
ful, it being the latter part of April, and 
Nature in tne first dawn of vernal beauty 
presented for several days a peculiar 
charm to the eyes of the lonely emi- 
grants. The long days of bright, warm 
sun, succeeding the- cold winds and rains 
of the early part of the month, had al- 
ready covered the sunny banks and hill 
sides with early plants and flowers. Al- 
ready the elm, sugartree and buckeye 
had shown their green leaves, and the 
early wild grass not only supplied abun- 
dant pasture, but covered and adorned 
the surface. The nights, too, were more 
charming, if possible, than the days in 
those grand old woods. The very still- 
ness was sublime, and the mild rays of 
the moon, penetrating the forest and 
tracing long lines of light and shade up- 
on the irregular surface, presented a pic- 
ture that none could fail to enjoy. As 
an accompaniment, and to enforce the 
consciousness of utter loneliness, the 
melancholy and spirit-like song of the 
whipporwill arose at intervals, mingled 
with the distant howl of the wolf, the 
hoot of the owl and the scream of the 

B ' *ier. But when the early dawn ef- 
the night scenes and nushed the 
sounds which had added to their pecu- 
liar beauty, the aroused tenants of the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 35 



tent were more than delighted with the 
music around them. The whole forest 
appeared alive with birds, and each one 
resolved to excel all the others in melo- 
dy and variety of song. The few and 
simple preparations f 017 breakfast were 
soon over, and Wilcoxon, his wife, child 
and dog, sat down to their roast of fresh 
venison, with appetite, contentment and 
surroundings that the palace of no mon- 
arch on earth could rival. They did not 
then fear the Indians, as it was known 
that they had agreed to go into treaty 
with Wayne, and therefore hostilities, 
for the present, were not apprehended. 
But this genial weather and these fasci- 
nating scenes and sounds could not al- 
ways last. Several weeks had now been 
assed in this leisurely half hunting, 
alf emigrating journey, and the cola 
rains of May commenced. The little 
party were not entirely provided for this 
change, though a little exertion erected 
a bark camp under cover of which they 
were enabled to keep dry. The rains 
continued several days and the time 
passed gloomily enough. Hunting was 
disagreeable and provisions became 
scarce in the camp. In addition to this 
the horse, growing weary of his position 
in the cold, beating rains, broke his hal- 
ter and wandered off. As soon as the 
storm abated Wilcoxon took his rifle and 
dog and set out in pursuit of the horse. 
It was difficult to follow the track, owing 
to the effects of the rain, and, unfortun- 
ately, the bell had been stopped with 
leaves while the horse remained at the 
camp. He, however, made a thorough 
search, and after several days found him 
and returned to camp. During this ex- 
cursion he discovered in a beautiful val- 
ley an unusually large and most remark- 
able spring, which furnished a great 
abundance of most excellent water. 
Fancying this spring and the country 
around it, he determined to strike his 
tent and go to it. He was also induced 
to make the location permanent by the 
necessity of having something for bread 
for his family. When he arrived at the 
spring, which* is now known as Sinking 
Spring, in Highland county, he went to 
work in earnest to make an improvement 
and build a house. First he cleared off 
a small patch of ground and managed to 
plant some seed com he had brought 
with him from Kentucky. Next, he 
went to work with his axe and cut poles 
or small logs, such as he, aided by his 
wife, could manage to get up, and carried 
and hauled with his horse to the spot 
near the spring which he had selected 
for his cabin. In the course of a few 
days it was so far completed as to serve 
the purposes of the family for a summer 



residence. The luxury df a bed w4s at- 
tained by gathering up leaves and dry- 
ing them in the sun, tnen putting them 
into a bed-tick, brought with them. For 
a bedstead, forks were driven into the 
ground, and sticks laid across, connect- 
ing with the walls of the cabin, on which 
was laid elm bark. On this was placed 
the tick filled with leaves, which in 
those days was considered a very com- 
fortable bed. Next, Mrs. Wilcoxon 
busied herself to plant some garden 
seeds which she had brought with her. 
This accomplished, and a "chimney built 
something over six feet high, made of 
polls and mud, with backwalls and iambs 
of flat rock, and a rough clapboard door 
for the cabin, domestic comfort seemed 
to be complete, and the new home by 
the Big Spring was a joy to the simple, 
honest hearts of the lonely settlers. 

Time passed on. The small patch of 
corn and pumpkins grew finely and 
promised an abundant yield, while in 
the little garden at the end of the cabin 
opposite the chimney flourished the 
gourd and the bean, the lettuce and po- 
tato. Around the dobr clustered the 
morning-glory, and in a carefully pro- 
tected nook by the wall grew the pink, 
violet and other favorite garden flowers, 
the seeds of which had been carefully 
brought from Kentucky. These little 
souvenirs seemed now, to the eyes of 
Mrs. Wilcoxon, to be more beautiful 
than they were when she first learned to 
love them in the garden of her old home, 
and they recalled to her mind many 
leasant scenes of her girlhood days — 
ringing back and re-endearing to her 
lonely heart her little circle of distant 
frienas. 

Early One morning in July Wilcoxon 
started out with his axe on his shoulder 
and a large wooden pail in his hand, the 
result of his own skill as a rough cooper, 
to cut a bee-tree which hC had discover- 
ed and marked a few days before in his 
rambles. The tree stood some two miles 
in a north-easterly direction from the 
cabin. It was quite large and required 
considerable time to cut. He had fallen 
it and gone with the pail to the part oc- 
cupied by the bees, leaving his axe at 
the stump. The honey appeared in great 
abundance, and was but little damaged 
by the falling of the tree. Large sheets 
of beautiful white comb were token out 
until the pail was filled and piled up to 
the height of itself above tne top, and 
the supply not half exhausted. While 
vexed at the smallness of his vessel, and 
wishing it three times as large, he con- 
concluaed to eat as much of the tempt- 
ing and delicious comb as he could, and 
accordingly fell to work with hands and 



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36 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



mouth. He had been thus pleasantly 
engaged but a short time, with the clear, 
bright honey running down over his 
chin and dripping from his hands and 
arms to the elbows, utterly oblivious to 
all around him, when three Indians, who 
had been watching his movements for 
some time from an adjoining thicket, 
noiselessly slipped out, and approaching 
him from behind, seized him by the 
arms, which they immediately bound, 
and thus put an end to his luxurious re- 
past. They had been attracted by the 
sound of his axe, and reached the spot 
soon after the tree fell. After helping 
themselves to as much honey as they 
wanted, they carried the pail with its 
cpntents to their encampment, three or 
four milts east. They manifested no 
disposition to hurt Wilcoxon, but took 
him along as a prisoner. When they 
reached the camp he discovered them to 
be a war party composed of about t’wen- x 
ty Shawnees, who, having refused to go 
into treaty along with the other North- 
western tribes with Way ne, had beep on 
an expedition to the north-eastern part 
ol Kentucky and were returning with 
some stolen horses and considerable 
other plunder. The three who had so 
rudely intruded upon him and appropri- 
ated the proceeds of his morning's lapor 
were out on a hunt. Shortly after their 
arrival at the camp the Indiams resumed 
their pa arch, taking their prisoner with 
them. They took the direction of the 
Indian towns on the North Fork of 
Paint, and apprehending no danger 
from pursuit, they traveled very leisure- 
ly, stopping frequently to hunt and 
amuse themselves. On the third day 
after the capture of Wilcoxon they 
struck IVfain Paint not far from where 
Bainbridge now stands, and passing 
down the right bank of the creek to the 
point where the turnpike now crosses it, 
encamped for ttie night. They sent 
some hunters out in the morning, and 
after they returned, and had prepared 
and eaten breakfast, preparations were 
made for resuming the journey, when, 
greatly to the surprise of the Indies, 
who had taken no precautions, believ- 
ing themselves entirely free from dan- 
ger, they were suddenly fired upon. 
Not knowing who the assailing party 
was, nor its strength, the Indians made 
a precipitate retreat across the creek, 
leaving everything behind them except 
their guns. In the midst of the terror 
and confusion Wilcoxon managed to es- 
cape. The attacking party was the same 
mentioned in another chapter, under the 
command of Gen. Massid. 

~ Wilcoxon arrived sound and w’ell, only 
minus his axe, pail and honey, at his 



cabin by the Big Spring, much to his 
own and his wife's joy. He was disturb- 
ed no more by Indians, 0 / indeed by any 
one else, for no human being seemed to 
be aware of the existence of his cabin 
and corn patch, as none ever visited him. 
In the fall he gathered quite a little pile 
of excellent corn, and made all necessary 

§ reparations for passing the winter, by 
auoing the cracks of his cabin on the 
outside and lining the walls on the in- 
side with bear, deer and other skins. 
The long winter passed off pleasantly. 
He hunted when the weather was suita- 
ble, and when it was not he remained in 
his cabin dressing skins and, with the 
aid of his wife, manufacturing them into 
clothing for himself and family, all of 
whom were dressed in skins of wild ani- 
mals. Their bedding for the winter was 
of the same material, as was not at all 
unfreq uent with the early settlers. They 
made hominy of the corn, which, when 
cooked ' in bear's grease, is said to be 
most delicious. 

Early the following spring (1796) a 
small party of emigrants from Kentucky, 
going to ioin tjie settlers at what is now’ 
Chillicothe, accidentally took the route 
from the river which led them to Wil- 
coxon's improvement. These were his 
first visitors, $nd he entertained them 
in true pioneer style while they chose to 
remain. He and his wife were so pleas- 
ed with their society after so lopg a 
separation from their fellow men, Shat 
they half reluctantly consented to 
abandon their little home in the wilder- 
ness and accompany them to Massje's 
settlement on the Scioto. 

Early in the tall following the removal 
of Wilcoxon and his family, Timothy 
Marshon emigrated from Virginia, and 
finding the vacant cabin of Wilcoxon, 
settled down and occupied it for several 
years. About the same time Frederick 
Braucher removed with his family from 
Virginia apd settled about a half a mile 
north of the Sinking Spring, on the line 
of Zane's trace, now known as the Zanes- 
ville and Maysville road. Thus was 
commenced the first settlement in the 
present county of Highland, and these 
two individuals, Marshon and Braucher, 
with their families, were the only inhab- 
itants within its boundaries, who for 
about one year were subject to the civil 
jurisdiction of Adams county. 

The ground on which every station 
was erected in the North-western Terri- 
tory, had heretofore been a battle ground, 
anq the resolute pioneers while clearing 
and working their corn-patches, were 
guarded by armed sentinels, whose ut- 
most vigilance failed to protect many 
from the unerring rifle of the enemy. 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 

Their steady perseverance bad, how- kind but luminous in the annals of the 
«ever, at last triumphed, and the red man. West. The time had come when the 
though *his soul is great — his arm strong hunter and warrior, clad in skins* was 
— his battles full of lame, ” was compell- to give place to the tiller of the soil, and 
ed to yield to the superior power of civ- the camps in the wilderness to be sup- 
ilization. His dominion over the broad planted by the cabin and the cornfield, 
lands of his fathers, though heroically The settlement in and around Chilli* 
battled for, had passed from him forever, cothe was the first made in peace west 
and he magnanimously buried the of the mountains. It grew very rapid*- 
hatchet, so long stained with the white ly, and for some years was the point to 
man’s blood, and in harmony and unaf- which emigration was directed. The 
fected friendship mingled with his an- town enlarged, and soon became a 
■cient and triumphant enemy. place of note and importance. New- 

A large district of country having comers there found a temporary rest- 
been ceded to the United States by the ing place from the fatigues of the long 
Indians at the treaty of Greenville, the and tedious journey through the wil- 
back woodsmen . who had spent a great derness. They were also enabled to 
part of their lives in the front of the collect information in regard to the 
wars by which these lands were acquired, most eligible locations remaining un- 
regarded the country as of right belong- appropriated, and to make their pur- 
ing to the conquerors. With this view chases from the land proprietors. Chil- 
•of their hard won, rights, during the licothe thus became the point from 
winter of 1795-96, they poured into the which the settlements interior diverg- 
newly acquired territory by thousands, ed, and many of the early settlers of 
each determined to have the most ad- Highland had first located in the vicin- 
vantageous selection of land for a farm, ity of Chillicothe. This place was also 
on which to pass the evening of their for about seven years the seat of jus- 
days in peace and quiet. Parties of ex- tioe for all the inhabited part of what 
plorers would sometimes meet with is now Highland county, and as such 
others on some inviting tract of first rate becomes connected, during that period, 
land, quarrels would ensue about with our history, 
priority of discovery and improvement, In December, 1796. old Robert Finley, 
which frequently ended in battles, and having emancipated all his slaves in 
sometimes in the death of some of the Kentucky, started twelve of them un- 
parties. Their improvements were what der charge of his son, J. B. Finley, for 
was called tomahawk improvements, hut Chillicothe. They were mounted on 
this pleasing dream of wealth, was of pack horses, loaded with bedding, cook- 
short duration. The veterans of the ing utensils, provisions, &c. Parts of 
woods soon discovered they had no three other families accompanied them 
favors to expect for conquering and de- with a drove of cows, sheep and hogs, 
fending the country. They were gen- After they crossed the Ohio River the 
erally poor, did not understand farming weather became intensely cold, and 
for profit, and were entirely unacquaint- there being no road but a path through 
ed.with trade and traffic. When, there- the woods they were not able to travel 
fore, peace came, they were far behind more than eight or ten miles a day, and 
the times. The new emigrants who set- sorpe days of storm they were compell- 
tled among them were, in all the arts ed to lay by. After sixteen days of 
which distinguish civilized life, greatly toil and suffering they reached their 
their superiors. The old backwoodsmen place of destination on the banks of the 
whose lives had been passed in hn ntin & Scioto below Chillicothe,. where they 
trapping and war, were strangers to the built winter camps. Their bread was 
new order of things which a state of made of pounded hominy and corn 
peace brought about, and they $oon meal, on which they lived, together 
found themselves elbowed out of the with what they could find in the woods, 
way by the more wealthy and dextrous Fortunately game was abundant, and 
emigrants.. Most of them abandoned they caqght opossums by the score, 
the idea of becoming wealthy proprie- The negroes enjoyed this kind of food 
tors of the rich lands they had conquer- nnn grew sleek and fat. In the spring 
ed, and sought more congenial scenes the pid man and the remainder of the 
far away from the busy settlements, on family moved out, and as soon as they 
the more remote frontier. The days of could erect a cabin all hands went to 
the original pioneer and Indian fighter work and put in a crop of porn. It was 
had passed away, and with them the ne- necessary to fence the prairie, 
cessity and importance of the leading in the fall they desired to sow some 
spirits, whose heroism and endurance wheat, but there was no seed to be 
made them not only beneficial to man- found in the whole valley. Janies and 



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38 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO . 



John Finley, therefore, set out with 
their pack-horses for Kentucky to get 
wheat, which they procured, and car- 
ried in bags on their horses to their 
new farm, camping out of nights, and 
taking care to find the largest log on 
which to unload their horses, so that 
they could reload in the morning with 
comparative ease. Thus these boys 
tugged their way through the wilder- 
ness with the first wheat sown on the 
waters of the Scioto. Previous to this 
the inhabitants, after exhausting the 
corn meal which they brought with 
them, were compelled to resort to the 
hominy morter for supplies, which, 
when made into bread and well anoint- 
ed with bears oil, was quite palatable. 
Wheat flour was entirely out of the 
question for some time, and the little 
brought by the more thoughtful immi- 
grants was most precious, and was 
carefully saved for sickness. 

When the settlement was first made 
whisky was $4.50 per gallon, but in the 
spring of 1797, when the keelboats be- 
gan to ritn, the distillers on the Monon- 
gahela rushed it to the new market* in 
such quantities that the cabins were 
crowded with it, and the price fell to 
fifty cents per gallon. Men, women 
and even children, it is said, drank 
freely, and many became drunkards. 
A considerable number of Wayne's sol- 
diers and camp women settled in the 
town, so that for a time it became a 
town of drunkards. To all this may be 
added the almost constant presence of 
the Indians in their native costumes 
with their bundles of peltry trading 
for whisky, and yelling through the 
streets from its effects. These things 
called for the interposition of the more 
orderly and sober portion of the peo- 
ple, and a meeting was accordingly 
called to take the matter into consider- 
ation. This meeting was held under 
the shade of a large sycamore tree on 
the banks of the Scioto, and was large- 
ly attended. After mature delibera- 
tion and free discussion, it was resolved 
that all traders who sold spirits to In- 
dians, or in any way furnished them 
with intoxicating liquors, should be re- 
quired to keep all the Indians made 
drunk by them in their own store- 
houses till they were sober, on penalty, 
for the first offense, of being repri- 
manded by two persons appointed for 
the purpose, and on the second offense 
their kegs or barrels of whisky were to 
be taken into the street and tomahawk- 
ed till all the contents were run out. 
Thus appears the first legislation by 
the people of Ohio. Notwithstanding 
the importance attached to this enact- 



ment, it was disregarded by one of the 
traders, who was promptly subjected tp 
the penalties, which effectually estab- 
lished its supremacy. , 

Another instance of the early admin- 
istration of justice may be interesting. 
In the spring of 1797 one Brannon 
stole a greatcoat, handkerchief and 
shirt, ana immediately, in company 
with his wife, fled. They were pursued 
and brought back. Preparations were 
made for a trial. A Judge was ap- 
pointed by the citizens, a jury empanel- 
ed, and an attorney appointed by the 
judge for the prisoner and one for the 
prosecution, witnesses were examin- 
ed, the case argued, and the evidence 
summed up the judge. The jury retir- 
ed for a few minutes, and returned 
with a verdict of guilty, and that the 
culprit be sentenced according to the 
discretion of the court. The judge 
promptly pronounced sentence of ten 
lashes on the naked back, or that the 
criminal should sit on a bare pack- 
saddle on the back of his own pony and 
his wife — who was believed to have 
had some agency in the theft— should 
lead the pony to every house in the vil- 
lage and proclaim “This is Brannon, 
who stole the greatcoat, handkerchief 
and shirt," an<t that James B. Finley 
should see the sentence faithfully exe- 
cuted. Brannon chose the latter, and 
‘^Phis is Brannon, who stole the great- 
coat, handkerchief and shirt!” was in 
due form proclaimed at the door of 
every cabin in the village by his wife, 
he sitting on the bare pack-saddle on 
the pony, she holding the halter, and 
Finley present to enforce the execu- 
tion of the sentence, with the entire 
population as spectators. \ 

In 1797 Governor St. Glair appointed 
Thomas Worthington, Hugh Cochran 
and Samuel Smith to be Justices of the 
Peace for the Chillicothe settlement. 
Smith transacted the principal part of 
the business, and his prompt ana decis- 
ive manner rendered him very popular. 
His docket could be understood only 
by himself. Scarcely was a warrant 
ever issued by him, as he preferred al- 
ways to send his constable to bring the 
accused forthwith before him that jus- 
tice might be administered. No law 
book was of any authority With him, 
and he always justified his own pro- 
ceedings by saying “All laws are in- 
tended to secure justice, and I know 
what is right and what is wrong as 
well as those who made the laws, and 
therefore I stand in need of no laws to 
govern my actions.” The following is 
one of his orally reported cases: Adam 
McMurdy cultivated some ground on 



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39 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND .COUNTY. OHIO. 



the Station Prairie, below the town. 
One night during the plowing season 
some one stole his horse collar. He 
next morning examined the collars of 
the plowmen then at work, and discov- 
ered his property in the possession of 
one of them, and claimed it. The man 
denied the theft, and used abusive and 
threatening language. McMurdy went 
to ’Squire Smith and stated his case. 
The ’Squire dispatched his Constable 
with strict orders to bring the thief 
and collar forthwith before him. The 
accused was immediately arraigned, 
court being held in the open air under 
the shade of a tree. A Mr. Spear was 
called as a witness, and, without being 
sworn, testified that “If the collar was 
McMurdy’s he himself had written his 
name on the ear of the collar.” The 
’Squire turned up the ear and found 
the name. “No better proof could, be 
given,” said the ’Squire, and ordered 
the prisoner to be immediately tied up 
to a buckeye and to receive five lashes 
well laid on, which sentence was im- 
mediately carried out. 

During the summer of 1798 an event 
occurred in Chillicothe very unfavor- 
able to the peace and safety of the peo- 
ple of the countv. A Mr. Stoops, pre- 
paratory to opening a house of public 
entertainment, called together his 
neighbors for the purpose of raising 
his Jjouse a story higher. In the even- 
ing an Indian of the Wyandotte tribe, 
somewhat intoxicated, came into town 
and behaved himself very rudely at 
the raising. He was reprimanded by 
a Mr. Thompson, who was a very 
athletic man. The Indian drew his 
knife, and, concealing the blade of it 
in his arm sleeve, watched his opportu- 
nity to attack Thompson. A person 
who observed him, advised him to 
leave for his camp, for if Thompson 
should find out that he had drawn his 
knife he would kill him. The Indian 
mounted his horse but refused to leave 
the place. Some one informed Thomp- 
son of his danger, who immediately 
seized a hand-spike, and struck the 
Indian on the head with great force. 
The Indian fell from his horse, and 
died that night from the effects of the 
blow. His body was carried to the 
Indian encampment, and as soon as the 
Indians learned the cause of his death 
they demanded Thompson, that they 
might punish him according to their 
law, which was of course death. To 
enforce this demand, they announced 
that if he was not promptly given up, 
they would kill every man, woman and 
child in the town and burn it down. 
It’ was known that they could easily 



execute this threat, for they were far « 
more numerous toan the whites. Some 
of the inhabitants were for complying 
but the majority were opposed to it. 
After some /considerable consultation 
it was agreed to try another method. 
This was to buy the life of Thompson 
by presents to the relations of the de- 
ceased, and promising to punish him 
according to law. This plan succeeded, 
and Thompson was placed under guard 
of four men — they having no jail in 
the place at that time. After sorhe 
two months he was permitted to malse 
his escape, and one of the guards went 
with him. The half brother of the de- 
ceased, not satisfied with^the manner 
in which the matter had bei&n adjusted, 
determined to avenge the death of his 
brother. He accordingly took^with 
him another Indian, and waylaying 
Zane’s Trace, they found two young 
men traveling alone, whom they killed 
and robbed of their horses and effects, 
and so the trouble ended. 

In May, 1799, a Post-office was estab- 
lished at Chillicothe, and Joseph Tiffin 
appointed Post-master, and in 1801 
Nathaniel Willis established the Scioto 
Gazette . In 1800 the seat of Govern- 
ment of the N. W. Territory was re- 
moved by law of Congress from Cin- 
cinnati to Chillicothe, and the* first 
session of the Territorial Legislature 
was held in a small two story hewed 
log house on the corner of Second and 
Walnut streets. The same building 
was also used as a Church, a Court- 
room, a Singing School and Billiard 
Saloon. 

Nearly all the first settlers in and 
about Chillicothe, were either regular 
members or had been reared in the 
Presbyterian Church. This may be ac- 
counted for in the fact that pretty 
nearly all those who joined Massie’s 
expedition to make the settlement in 
the spring ot ’96 were members of the 
Cane Ridge Congregation, of Bourbon 
county, Kentucky, under the charge of 
Robert W. Finley. Towards the fall 
of ’97, the leaven of piety retained by a 
portion of these settlers began to 
diffuse itself through the mass, and a 
large log meeting-house was erected, 
and the Rev. Mr. Speer, of Pennsyl- 
vania, employed as pastor. The sleep- 
ers served as seats for the hearers and 
a split log table was used as a pulpit. 
Mr. Speer is described as a gentleman- 
ly, moral man, tall and cadaverous in 
person, and wearing the cocked hat of 
the Revolutionary era. Methodists 
were comparatively few at this time, 
though there were some of that de- 
nomination among the first settlers. 



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, A HISTORY OF* HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO: 



* Rev. Robert W. Finley was the first 
Ptesbyterian clergyman, and the Rev. 
Messrs. Harr and Tiffin tpe first Meth- 
odist. 

With all the many merits and attrac- 
tions of the country in and around 
Chillicothe, still it had its objection- 
able points. The new settlements were 
regularly visited with autumnal fevers. 
They were of a virulent character and 
some times the symptoms resembled 
those of the yellow fever. Fever and 
ague prevailed to a great extent. These 
were supposed to result from the ef- 
fluvia arising from the decomposition 
of the luxuriant vegetation which 
covered the bottoms. These fevers 
were attended' with great mortality, and 
the sufferings occasioned by them were 
immense. Often there was not one 
member of a family able to help an- 
other, and instances occurred in which 
the dead lay unburied for days, be- 
cause no one could report to the neigh- 
bors. This extensive prevalence of 
sickness did not), however, greatly deter 
emigration. An inordinate desire to 



possess the rich lands overcame a!2 
rears of sickness, and the living tide* 
rolled on, heedless of death. In the 
summer of 1798 the bloody flux raged 
as an epidemic, and for a while threat- 
ened to depopulate the whole town and 
its vicinity. Medical skill was exerted 
to its utmost, but all to no purpose, as* 
but very few who were attacked recov- 
ered. From eight to ten were buried 
each day. The Scioto country soon ac- 
quired the reputation of a very un- 
healthy country, and many of those 
who had selected homes on its rich 
bottoms, after witnessing a» sickly seas- 
on or two, were constrained to class- 
wealth as only secondary to health. 
They therefore cast about tor a region 
which promised the latter blessingfirst, 
and hence the present county of High- 
land, being then a part of Ross, and in- 
dicating by its locality comparative 
freedom from the diseases peculiar to- 
the valley, rapidly received large acces- 
sions from the neighborhood of the 
county-seat. 



b 

CHAPTER X. 



Hie town of new market laid off and platted, and the first 

HOUSES ERECTED. 



T HE motives which prompt men to 
settle new countries need not now be 
discussed. Observation, however, 
points to the acquisition of property as 
by no means the least. The masses are 
doubtless content with the prospect of 
better farms, or the certainty or more 
land to divide among their children, 
but there are always those among the 
first settlers who are ambitious to accu- 
mulate rapidly large fortunes. This is 
most readily done by locatiii& towns 
and inducing settlers to improve, and 
this gives value to the surrounding 
lands, as well as the town lots, most of 
which is, of course, for the benefit of 
the proprietor. 

Henry Massie, a younger brother of 
Gen. Nathaniel Massie, came out from 
Virginia shortly after Manchester was 
located and engaged as an assistant 
surveyor under his brother. ,In the 
summer of 1796, while the settlement 
about Chillicothe was making, he was 
engaged in locating and surveying 
lands on the head waters of Brush- 



creek, in what is now Highland. The 
summer and fall of 1797 were employ- 
ed by him in the same way. Most of 
the rich bottom lands on the Scioto and 
Miami having been taken up by the 
earlier surveyors, he was of necessity 
confined chiefly to the hill region, then 
in Adams county, and extending north 
of Manchester some thirty miles. 

While making these surveys he be- 
came particularly impressed with the y 
beauty of an extensive upland tract 
which he entered and surveyed for 
himself. The land was not rich, but it 
lay finely and seemed to occupy a posi- 
tion which one day might not only give 
it importance, but make it a source of 
fortune to him. It was, as near as he 
could then ascertain, about equi-distant 
from the only located towns in the Mil- 
itary district, and he doubted not might 
become the seat of a new county when 
it became necessary to establish anoth- 
er north of Manchester. Thus impress- 
ed, he returned with his company to 
Manchester about the first of Decem- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY OHIO . 



ber; and during the winter made a visit 
to his brother at Chillicothe. He was 
surprised at the rapid growth of that 
place and the surrounding country, and 
at once saw the certain prospect of a 
large fortune for his brother, resulting 
from the increase in the value of his 
lands and unsold town lots. Immedi- 
ately he resolved to lay out a town 
himself early the next spring on his 
previously selected site, and communi- 
cated his project to his brother, who 
warmly approved it and promised him 
all the aid he could in advancing the 
enterprise. Accordingly, on the 5th 
day of April, 1798, the spring having 
been very lat6, he set out from Man- 
chester with a small company to lay off 
the town on the uplands and commence 
the foundation of a permanent settle- 
ment. The party arrived on the even- 
ing of the 7th at the place of their fu- 
ture operations, and camped near a line 
spring. The next day they commenced 
erecting some permanent huts for their 
accommodation. They had brought 
with them on their pack horses meal, 
bacon, salt, &c., sufficient for their im- 
mediate wants, also axes and other im- 
plements. The company consisted of 
Henry Massie, Oliver Ross and his 
daughter, a girl of fifteen, Robert Hus- 
ton and another. Miss Ross went as 
tent-keeper and cook, and was then be- 
lieved to be the first white woman ever 
in the present county of Highland, in 
consequence of which Massie gave her 
a lot in the town when it was laid off. 
Huston and Ross were both Irishmen, 
and had emigrated only a few years be- 
fore. 

Massie had indulged in his dream of 
founding a town so long, that he had 
become firmly convinced it would soon 
rival his brother’s already successful 
enterprise on the Scioto. He accord- 
ingly proceeded to lay the town out on 
a grand scale. The universally admir- 
ed plan of Philadelphia was adopted, 
and carefully applied, which formed 
the plat into regular and compact 
squares and intersected the streets at 
right angles. . The two main cross 
streets were ninety-nine feet wide and 
all the others sixty-six. The town plat 
covered over four hundred acres, and 
looked superb on paper. Each in-lot 
was eighty-two and one-half feet in 
front and one hundred and eighty-five 
in depth. The public square, designed 
for the court house, contained four in- 
lots, and was the northeast comer at 
the intersection ot the two ipain cross 
streets. One lot was donated for school 
purposes, and an out-lot for a cemetery. 
The town being thus blazed out on the 



trees, was as yet an unbroken forest, 
but still it was necessary that people at 
a distance should know the name of the 

S lace to which they were expected to 
irect their steps. Massie therefore de- 
termined, after conning over in his 
mind many high-sounding names, none 
of which exactly pleased him, to name 
it for a favorite village in his native 
Virginia. So the embryo metropolis of 
the uplands received the name of 

NEW MARKET. 

After the town was laid out and cAe- 
fully transferred to paper, Massie com- 
menced running off his lands adjoining 
in lots to suit the probable demands of 
new comers. While thus engaged Ross 
and Huston officiated as chainmen. 
They continued in this service till they 
earned sufficient wages to purchase for 
each a hundred acre lot of land adjoin- 
ing the town plat. Having prepared 
copies of the plat of his town, Massie 
sent one, with a brief description of 
the country, together with the induce- 
ments which he believed it to be to his 
interest to hold out to actual settlers, 
to Maysville, Manchester, Chillicothe, 
&c. In consequence a number of per- 
sons visited his encampment during the 
summer, among whom were Jonathan 
Berryman and William Wishart, who 
were pleased with the country. Berry- 
man purchased a hundred acre tract of 
land adjoining the town plat on the 
south, while Wishart bought a corner 
lot in the town. Berryman returned to 
Manchester, his temporary residence, 
while Wishart remained and commenc- 
ed improving his purchase by cutting 
out the trees and brush and building a 
log Cabin, designed for a tavern house. 
This cabin was the first house erected 
in the present town of New Market, 
and stood on the lot on which stands 
the residence of the late Lewis Couch. 

Wishart was an energetic and perse- 
vering Scotchman, and soon got his 
building in a condition to assume for it 
the name of tavern. But the anticipated 
rush of new settlers did not come, and 
the new hotel, small though it was, sel- 
dom received a crowd of strangers be- 
yond its capacity. The fame of the rich 
lands about Chillicothe and the wonder- 
fully rapid growth of that place, drew 
most of the immigrants, who had but 
little respect for oak hills as farming 
land, ana no dread of fever and ague. 

As an inducement to settlers, Massie 
offered to every man who purchased of 
him one hundred acres of land an out- 
lot of .three acres, and in order to get the 
country opened up and in a condition 
for cultivation, he employed men to 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



dear out land adjoining the town plat, 
giving fifty acres of land for clearing 
ten. The first year there was no crop 
raised, and all the breadstuff used had 
to be brought on pack horses from 
Manchester. The settlers and surveyors 
had, however, little difficulty in supply- 
ing their wants from the game, which 
was found in great abundance in the 
woods, almost within reach of their own 
doors. They also found service berries, 
mulberries, &c., in profusion, and in the 
hill great quantities of mast, hazel nuts, 
hickory nuts and walnuts. They, had 
taken cows with them, so that milk was 
plenty and could be kept cool and nice 
at the excellent spring near Ross’ camp, 
which was the headquarters for the sur- 
veyors and for a time, till Wishart’s 
tavern was opened, for visitors and new' 
comers. 

Ross selected his lot of land adjoining 
the town plat on the east, but made no 
improvement that year, being constantly 
engaged as chain man for Massie, who 
had become the principal survevor in 
that region and therefore received large 
numbers of military warrants to locate, 
chiefly on the shares. Joseph Carr, w ho 
was a surveyor and land jobber, came to 
the new settlement during the summer 
and engaged to a considerable extent in 
surveying lands. 

When Berryman went back to Man- 
chester, after selecting his land, he in- 
tended to return in season to make the 
necessary preparation for winter, but 
one of his horses getting crippled, he 
was compelled to postpone it until late 
in the fall. He was a native of the State 
of New Jersey and had come to Man- 
chester with ‘his wife and effects the 
previous autumn. When his horse re- 
covered so as to be able for service he 
loaded his few articles of household 
.goods into his light Jersey wagon and 
about the first of October set out for 
New Market. There was no road for a 
wagon, none ever having passed into 
the country north. A pack horse trace 
led him into Kenton's trace, which was 
the route followed by Massie and all 
•who had gone to the new settlement. 
He supplied himself with the necessary 
provisions for himself and wife and set 
•out, cutting his way through the woods 
hy day ana camping out at night, using 
the closely covered wagon to sleep in, 
jhis horses, hobbled and belled, grazing 
around and his dog under the wagon. 
His progress was very tedious, as well 
as laborious and lonely in the extreme, 
particularly at night when the wolves, 
panthers, owls, &c., combined to make 
it hideous. But he finally, on the elev- 
enth, day after his departure, arrived 



safe and sound on his land, to w'hich he 
cut a path and halted his wajjon near 
the spot he had selected for his cabin. 
It w r as in the forenoon when they reach- 
ed the end of their journey, and the day 
was calm, beautiful and pleasant as 
autumn days often are. Knowing that 
there was no time to be lost if he would 
winter in his own cabin and have it in a 
condition to afford a reasonable amount 
of comfort, he requested his wife to un- 
hitch the horses from the wagon and 
take off the harness, while he went to 
work vigorously with his axe to cut logs 
for his cabin. The horses were a valu- 
able pair, and Mrs. Berryman having 
taken off the gears and adjusted the 
bells around their necks, turned them 
loose to graze on the luxuriant growth 
of pea vine which was then common all 
over the surrounding hills. She then 
set about preparing some dinner, to 
which she ana her husband sat down 
on the ground, carpeted with autumn’s 
variegated fallen leaves, with a peculiar 
relish, which proceded not so much 
from appetite, which was always good in 
those days, as from , that unaefinable 
sense of pleasure flowing from dining at* 
home after an absence — they were at 
home, though they had neither house 
nor field, and they therefore doubly en- 
joyed their simple repast, washed down 
by a gourd of pure cold water from the 
adjacent spring. 

The labor of preparing the logs, and 
clearing off the ground for the cabin 
w T as interrupted a few days after by the 
absence of the horses. They had wan- 
dered off, Mps. Berryman having forgot- 
ten to put on their hobbles. So Berry- 
man had to start out in search of them, 
and after several days’ hunt he found 
one of them some miles north of New 
Market dead, evidently from the effects 
of a snake bite on the nose. The other 
he entirely failed to find after long 
search, and never afterwards heard of it. 

• He supposed that it had been taken by 
some strolling party of Indians, as the 
country twelve or fifteen miles north 
was then pretty thickly settled by 
Shaw’nees and Wyandotts, This was a 
serious loss to him, for good horses were 
then an object, and both difficult and 
expensive to replace. He returned and 
recommenced his work at his cabin. 
Finally about the middle of November 
he got all in readiness for the raising. 
Hands were of course scarce, but what 
few could be had were kind and neigh- 
borly. They turned out, some four or 
five of them, and by hard lifting they 
managed to carry the logs to the place 
and raise his cabin. The remainder of 
the w'ork, such as roofing, laying the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



puncheon , floor, building the cat and 
clay chimney, making the clap-boards, 
door, &c., he. of course, had to do him- 
self. After this was all done he moved 
in, for previously, for near two months, 
the wagon had been his home. Towards 
the first of December a spell of cold 
rainy weather set in and continued for 
two weeks, during which Berryman was 
unable to finish his cabin by chinking 
and daubing, and employed the time part- 
ly in hunting. He killed a bear one morn- 
ing from his cabin door, and could get 
any quantity of deer and turkeys any 
time within half a mile. The weather, 
however, changing to cold and freezing, 
he became alarmed lest he should be 
unable to get his cabin daubed, and as a 
winter residence it would be untenable 
without it. He therefore went to work 
and cut logs sufficient to make four 
large log heaps, one of which he built 
on each of the four sides of his house. 
He then, after chinking, commenced 
daubing, having fired the log piles, the 
heat of which kept the daubing from 
freezing and also dried it. This was 
finished between Christmas and New 
Year, and his cabin was comfortable, 
not only for that winter, but stood and 
was tenanted until within a few years 
past, the last survivor of the pioneer 
settlement. 

Oliver Rods came out in the fall of 
1797, and assisted in laying out the 
town of New Market. Early in the fol- 
lowing spring, .the 14th day of March, 
his eldest son, St. Clair Ross, in com- 
pany with his father, one brother and 
sister, left Manchester for the settle- 
ment at New Market, where they arrived 
on the 16th, having camped out over 
night on the way. They erected a tem- 
porary camp, and after remaining a day 
or so, commenced clearing a piece of 
ground for a corn patch. There were 
no persons living at that time in the 
newly laid out town, or around the site 
of it— the town being laid out in the fall 
and all parties engaged in that work, 
having returned to Manchester for the 
winter. Oliver Ross was at this time a 
comparatively old man, and when he 
and his sons went on the ground to 
commence the clearing, which was on 
the 17th day of March, 1798, he request- 
ed St. Clair to take the axe ana cut 
down a sapling. After this was done he 
handed him a grubbinghoe and request- 
ed him to take up some grubs, remark- 
ing that he wanted him to have it to 
say when he became an old man that he 
had cut the first tree and taken up the 
first grub in the New Market settlement, 
which was then, and until the settle- 
ment at Sinking Springs by Wilcoxon, 



made in 1795, as announced, in our 
history, generally believed to be the 
first in the present ' county of Highland. 
That spring they planted four acres of 
corn. Their nearest towns were Chilli- 
cothe, Cincinnati and Manchester. 
They still lived in their camp during 
the summer. Their carpet, says Mr. 
Ross, was nature’s green earth — their 
table a split log wiUi the flat side up, 
and their standing food was corn meal 
gruel, thickened with wild onions. Oc- 
casionally this was varied with a roast 
of venison or other game. Their nearest 
mill was eighteen miles distant. Their 
nearest — indeed their only neighbors, 
were the Indians. They were very 
numerous and soon became very'trouble- 
some, stealing their horses, cows and 
every thing worth carrying away they 
could get their hands on. 

The next permanent settler that came 
to New Market was Jacob Beam. Then 
came McCafferty and some others — 
dates not remembered — about the same 
time. Robert Boyce arrived from Man- 
chester w T ith the first wagon ever 
brought out to the settlement at New 
Market. This was in the fall of ’98. 
He sent word to New Market that he 
was coming, requesting the settlers to 
turn out and cut a road to meet him. 
St. Clair Ross was one of the small party 
who went to meet Boyce and open the 
way for the first wagon. It was a toler- 
ably light wagon, drawn by two first- 
rate horses. Mr. Boss also helped cut 
the road from New Market west to the 
crossing of Whiteoak, thence to Wil- 
liamsburg, or Lytlestown, as it was then 
named. The wilderness in every direc- 
tion from New Market was very dense. 

In the spring of 1799, says Mr. Ross, a 
traveler by the name of Jones, from 
Tennessee, on his way from Chilncothe 
to Cincinnati, took rather a circuitous 
route, with the design of seeing more of 
the lands, and gave little or no attention 
to the trace then blazed out between 
the two points. Whilst riding along 
one day through the wilderness, he dis- 
mounted and tied his horse to a sapling, 
and went a short distance to the head of 
a hollow in search of a spring, which he 
found. He drank, and after resting a 
few minutes, returned to where he be- 
lieved he had hitched his horse ; but, 
to his Amazement, nowhere could he 
find him. After vainly wandering about 
all that day and night through the 
woods, about daylight he heard chickens 
crowing, the first indications of human 
habitation that had greeted his ear 
during all his lonely wanderings. He 
directed his steps to the quarter from 
which came the welcome sound, and 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 



soon found himself at Brougher’s tavern, 
near Sinking Spring, on the Zanesville 
and MaysviUe road, eighteen miles from 
New Market: ' He entered the house, 
his clothes torn with the brush and 
briers, and himself half dying from 
fatigue, and told his story. Brougher 
listened patiently till he was through, 
and then bluntly told him he did not 
believe a word of it. The whole thing 
seemed so utterly improbable, that the 
honest mind of old Frederick Brougher 
could not comprehend it, so he prompt- 
ly pronounced it a falsehood. Tne v 
stranger having money in his pocket, 
and being almost famished, procured a 
good substantial breakfast, after which 
he set out again, on foot, for New 
Market, and reached Oliver Ross* Tav- 
ern about bed time on Sunday night, 
where he remained some time, spend- 
ing most of each day in searching for 
his lost horse. It was a very busy season 
with the settlers, and no one could spare 
the time to assist him, until the follow- 
ing Sunday, when a company of some 
eighteen started out, keeping sight of 
each other all the time. After a search 
of several hours the horse was found by 
John Emrie, father of J. R. Emrie, 
hitched iust as his owner had left him, 
with saddle, bridle, two blankets on him, 
and a pair of saddle-bags, in which were 
two hundred dollars in specie, all safe. 

The same spring, and shortly after 
the occurrence above narrated, St. Clair 
Ross and his sister went to Manchester 
with pack-horses for provisions. On the 
way home, some few miles the other 
side of New Market, they met seventeen 
Indians on horse back in Indian file 
with Simon Kenton at their head. 
Ross and his sister exhibited some 
alarm, which Kenton observing, rode 
up to them, and with a most benevo- 
lent smile told them not to be alarmed, 
that there was no clanger, so both 
parties passed on. A short time after 
the Indians passed, Ross heard a bell 
off some distance in a valley, and re- 
membering that Robert Boyce had lost 
his two fine horses and doubted not 
that the Indians had stolen them, he 
told his sister to remain where she was 
while he rode over to where they heard 
the bell. He soon discovered the horses, 



spanceled with hickory withes, 1 grazing 
in an open space in the valley. He 
knew the horses as soon as he saw them, 
and supposed the party of Indians that 
he haa just met, had lett them there till 
they returned ; but never dreamed in 
his anxiety to recover Mr. Boyce’s prop- 
erty, that any of the Indians had re- 
mained to guard them. He thereiore 
went up to them and stopped the bells 
with leaves the first thing, he then un- 
did the withes from their legs and start- 
ed with them. He had scarcely got to 
where be left his sister before he was 
aware that Indians were in pursuit of 
them, dodging from tree to tree in hopes 
to take him Dy surprise. Hastily tell- 
ing his sister the state of the case and 
directing her to follow him with all 
speed, he started on the fresh horses 
and all the others in the rear. The 
Indians then showed themselves but at 
a distance beyond the reach of their 
rifle-balls. They tired several shots at 
the retreating party, but without doing 
any harm, and they soon reached New 
Market in safety, and returned Boyce 
his lost horses. The Indians were pur- 
sued the next morning bv Mr. Ross, 
with six others, and several other horses 
recovered, by temporizing with them 
and making them presents of corn and 
rum. They numbered when in pursuit 
of Ross and his sister, from sixteen to 
twenty. 

The Indians, says Mr. Ross, were quite 
troublesome about New Market for 
some time after the town became a 
place of business, and he recollects his 
father driving them awfcy from his 
house frequently. On one of these oc- 
casions, an Indian attempted to toma- 
hawk him. When the alarm occurred 
on the murder of Capt. ^Herrod and 
Wa-will-a-way, the inhabitants were in 
great dread, and were actually making 
preparations to commence building a 
fort, when they received word that the 
difficulty had been adjusted and the 
danger averted. 

St. Clair Ross was married to Miss 
Rebecca Eakins in 1807. Samuel Evans, 
then a justice of the peace, solemnized 
the contract at the residence of the 
bride’s father, Mr. Joseph Eakins, near 
New Market. 



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CHAPTER XI. 



JACOB AND ENOCH SMITH SETTLE AT THE FALLS OF PAINT— GENERAL 
MCARTHUR SELECTS A SITE AND LAYS OFF THE TOWN OF GREENFIELD. 

I N the autumn of 1796 Jacob Smith and the owner of all the surrounding lands, 
his brother Enoch led a party of set- and was more than gratified to learn 
tiers, consisting of from ten to fifteen that he could purchase on favorable 
families, from Virginia to the Scioto terms, as that enterprising and generous 
Valley. They came by the river to Man- proprietor ever looked more to the im- 
chester, and followed the trace from provement of the country and the ad- 
that place, on their pack-horses, to the vantage of his fellow-man than to his 
falls of Paint* The Smiths, being mill- own immediate aggrandizement ; yet, 
wrights and on the lookout for a good like most industrious and liberal-minded 
water power, at once perceived the men, he had rapidly accumulated a for- 
merits of that at the falls, while the tune in rich lands, being at that time 
apparent richness of the surrounding the most extensive landed proprietor in 
lands settled in their minds the value of the Territory. Massie had determined 
the location. They therefore aban- at this early day on making his liome- 
doned their original idea of settling in stead near the falls of Paint, and he at 
the immediate vicinity of Chillicothe, once made a proposition to Smith to give 
and crossing over to the north side, one hundred acres of land for every 
they unloaded their horses and at once twenty of his own that was cleared and 
commenced preparations for passing the brought into cultivation. This offer was 
winter. Being pretty strong handed, readily accepted, and . in the spring all 
they soon erected and made comfortable the male settlers at the falls found abun- 
a sufficient number of cabins to house dant employment. It was unnecessary 
the party. During the greater part of for them to clear corn land for them- 
October and November the weather was selves, as Massie’s generous proposal in- 
delightful, and the new settlers had eluded the first two crops. This not on- 
ample time, not only to prepare their ly supplied them with an abundance of 
cabins but to examine the surrounding corn, but each man thus acquired a farm 
country, and kill an abundance of game, for himself, and was enabled during the 
The first corn crop of the settlers at the two years to clear a sufficient number of 
mouth of Paint, had turned out most acres to be prepared to put in a crop on 
abundant, and the new comers at the his own land at the end of that time, and 
falls found their wants, in that impor- some did it before. They, however, con- 
tant particular, comparatively easily tinued clearing land for Massie and thus 

3 lied. The excitement always at- adding to their own farms, as long as he 
imt upon making a settlement in a desired. The Virginians selected their 
country, the novelty of every thing lands on the north bank of the creek, 
around them and the unsually pleasant while Massie plunned his farm on the 
weather, combined to both please and south side, ana had much of the clearing 
satisfy the Virginians with their new done there, on which he, in the course 
home. But little was, however, done in of a couple of years, settled some tenants 
the way of improvement or clearing the and commenced preparations to improve 
land during the winter, though a great with a view to his permanent residence 
deal, in their judgment, in the way -of there. Meantime the Smiths were push- 
hunting bear and deer. They were fresh ing forward their enterprise, to which 
from the east where game had then be- General Massie lent his assistance. He 
gun to disappear, and though not first- wanted a mill on his side of the stream, 
class hunters, yet they secured abund- for the convenience of the settlers on his 
ance and to spare. improved lands, and he therefore joined 

While others were enjoying the chase with them in constructing a dam across 
or idling away their time, Jacob Smith the creek. In this way an abundance of 
was prospecting about the falls and set- water was obtained to run both mills, 
tling in his own mind all the prelim- The mill built by the Smiths was a good 
inanes of the mill that was to be. He one for the day, and they subsequently 
went to Chillicothe to see Gen. Massie, improved and 'enlarged it until it became 

(46) 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



one of the principal mills of the country. 
It was .put into successful operation m 
the falx of 1798. Massie’s mill was a 
small affair, and not wishing to interfere 
with the industrious and persevering 
Smiths he made no attempt to enlarge 
or improve it, and of course it never be- 
came of much cousequence. 

In September, 1798, General McArthur 
having entered and surveyed^ two years 
before, a large tract of superior upland 
on the west bank of Main Paint, west of 
Chillicothe, and having witnessed the 
unexampled success of General Massie’s 
speculation at that place, set out with a 
small party to lay out a town on his 
lands. They journeyed through the wil- 
derness, there being no road of any de- 
scription then open from Chillicothe 
west, and arrived at the place of opera- 
tion with their pack horses and camp 
equipage. After thoroughly exploring 
the thickly wooded lands on the west 
side of the stream, McArthur selected 
the most eligible, being a gently rising 
tract beginning at the creek and extend- 
ing west. This ground was then covered 
with a dense forest, in which not a 
sound of a white man’s axe had ever be- 
fore been heard. Adopting the most 
natural as well as the most beautiful 
plan, the proprietor proceeded to lay off 
the town on a very liberal scale, in 
squares, with wide streets, intersecting 
at right angles. An in and out-lot, in 
one part of the plat, were donated to 
actual settlers ; a square — the southwest 
corner of Main ana Washington streets 
—was donated by the proprietor for the 
purpose of a court house and jail, and 
also a lot for a burying ground. The 
opinion was strongly impressed upon his 
mind that the place would, at no distant 
day, be the seat of justice of a new and 
rich county, and he therefore acted in 
view of such an event. 

The town being blazed out, staked off 
and platted, there remained nothing 
more to give identity to it but a name, 
which McArthur decided should be 

GREENFIELD. 

It is not known why this name was 
adopted. Certainlv it proceeded from 
no local cause, and it is therefore to be 
inferred that he, prompted by a senti- 
ment never found absent from a gener- 
ous and noble heart, named it for a 
village in Erie county, Pennsylvania, 
near which he had passed his boyhood 
days, and where his father, brothers ana 
sisters then lived, and beneath whose 
church-yard willows his mother was 
buried. 

As one object of this domestic history 
is to preserve the recollection of the 



pioneers of the earlier days of the 
North-west, it may not be an inexcusa- 
ble digression to say a few words about 
Gen. Duncan McArthur, who was in 
every point of view, perhaps, the best 
specimen of a western man that this 
country has produced. 

He was born in Duchess county, New 
York, on the 14th day of January, 1772.. 
His parents were natives of the High- 
lands of Scotland, and his mother was 
of the Campbell clan, so illustrious in 
Scottish story. She died while Duncan 
was quite a youth. When he was eight 
years of age his father moved with his 
family to the western frontier of Penn- 
sylvania. The Revolutionary war was 
tnen in progress, and all the energies- 
and courage of the frontier men were 
called forth to protect themselves from 
Indian depredation. Under these cir- 
cumstances schools were unknown. But 
by the time Duncan was thirteen he 
had managed to learn to fead and write 
tolerably well, although, being the old- 
est son, he was constantly kept at hard 
work on the farm to aid in supporting 
his father’s large family of children. 
His father was very poor, and as soon as 
the small crop of corn was laid by, 
Duncan was hired out, either by the 
day or month, to the neighboring 
farmers. 

At this time there were no wagon 
roads across the Alleghany mountains, 
and all the merchandise, such as powder,, 
lead, salt, iron, pots, kettles, blankets, 
rum, &c., <&c., were carried over on 
pack-horses. In this business young 
McArthur early engaged, and the dan- 

f ers and excitement incident to it 
oubtless possessed more charms to his 
lofty and daring soul than the small 
pittance of wages the service brought 
him. At that time it was almost an 
every day occurrence to see a long line 
of pack-horses, in single hie, cautiously 
winding their way over the wild ana 
stupendous Alleghanies, on a path scarce- 
ly wide enough for a single horse. 
When surmounting the dizzy heights 
they often turned round the points of 
projecting rocks, where the least jostle 
or slip of the horse’s foot would have 
precipitated it into the abyss beneath 
and crushed it to atoms. So narrow and 
dangerous were the passes in many 
places, that a horse loaded with bulky 
articles could not pass these projections 
without being first unloaded, the pack- 
ers then carrying with the utmost care 
the load to the horse, and replacing it 
on the pack-saddle. But the difficulties 
of the road were not the only dangers 
the resolute packers had to encounter 
the wily Indian frequently lay in 



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.ambush to kill the packers and rob the 
train. 

At the age of eighteen, young Mc- 
Arthur bid adieu to his humble home 
and friends, and joined Harmar’s expe- 
•dition against the Indians. From that 
time forward he became identified with 
the history of the present State of Ohio, 
and without the aid of friends, without 
the advantages of education, and with- 
out the society so essential to mental 
improvement, he forced his way, step 
by step — a farmer’s boy, a packer, a 
rivate in the army, a salt boiler, a 
unter and trapper, a spy on the fron- 
tier, a chain carrier, a surveyor, a mem- 
ber of the Legislature— to the highest 
honor within the gift of the people of 
his adopted State— its Governor. He 
endeavored to do his duty in every sta- 
tion in which it was his fortune to act, 
and by his great energy, courage and 
endurance generally led those with 
whom he was associated, when all stood 
upon an equality in point of authority. 
As an assistant surveyor, McArthur 
rapidly accumulated a fortune, and 



though the honors awarded him by his 
fellow' citizens necessarily introduced 
him into polished society, yet his 
natural good sense and manliness always 
pointed his straightforward and inde- 
pendent course, and the frank Planners 
and generous nature of the backwoods- 
man never forsook him. He was phys- 
ically a splendid specimen ot a man — 
upwards of six feet in height and as 
straight as an arrow — hair and eyes 
black as night, complexion swarthy; 
his whole frame stout, athletic and vig- 
orous, and a step as elastic and light as 
a deer. To his strong good sense and 
chivalric courage, which amounted at 
times to a reckless daring, he added the 
generosity and disinterested friendship 
ever characteristic of noble natures,, and 
though his early struggles and priva- 
tions were rewarded by wealth and 
honors, there are few who will say, on 
reading the history of his eventful life, 
that he received more than was justly 
due his sterling merits in the varied 
services, so cheerfully, so faithfully and 
so ably rendered to his fellow’men. 



o- 

CHAPTER XII. 



wisiiart’s tavern, and the new post master— THE VILLAGE OF NEW' 
AMSTERDAM— JOB WRIGHT MAKES THE FIRST SETTLE3IENT AT GREEN- 
FIELD— THE HALCYON DAYS — PERMANENT SETTLERS OF NEW MARKET 

IN 1800— A TEA PARTY— THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT REMOVED TO CHIL- 

# 

LICOTHE. 



I N the spring of 1789 Henry Massie, 
deeming it important, both for milling 
and other purposes, to have a connec- 
tion with the settlement at the falls of 
Paint and Chillicothe, made a pack 
horse trace from New Market to the set- 
tlement at the falls, from which there 
was already a trace down to Chillicothe. 
During that summer Gen. William Lytle, 
who was born in Cumberland county, 
Pennsylvania, and early emigrated to 
Kentucky, and took an active part in 
many of the desperate Indian fights on 
the border, made a trace from the present 
town of Williamsburg, then called 
Lytlestown, to New Market. Lvtlestown 
had been laid out the fall before by Gen. 
Lytle and a settlement commenced. A 
pack-horse trace, having been made to 
‘Cincinnati, communication was thus 
opened through New* Market to Chilli- 



cothe, and on to Marietta, Zanesville 
and the old States beyond the moun- 
tains. 

During this summer improvements 

S rogressed slowly in and around New 
[arket. Wishart’s hotel was occasion- 
ally honored by an exploring guest or a 
surveying party, but no additional 
houses were erected, though many of 
the trees were cut away and much of the 
undergrowth taken out so that the lines 
of the two principal cross streets were 
pretty clearly defined to the eye. 

A post office was established in the 
fall at New Market, a weekly pack mail 
line between Chillicothe and Cincinnati 
having been put into operation, and the 
enterprising landlord of the log cabin 
hotel appointed postmaster. This form- 
ed a new and important era in the 
annals of the place. It at once ceased to 






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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



be a village in the woods, and, though as 
yet it had but one house in it and that 
obscured by the luxuriant growth of 
butter weeds, which had lately blossom- 
ed and now filled the air with their 
floating and silky petals, detached by 
the gentle September breezes, thence- 
forth assumed an air of importance. 
The hotel was as yet without a sign, 
other than the palpable fact that it was 
the only visible stopping place at that 
point on the % trace, and was pretty well 
covered over with coon, deer, and other 
skins, stretched to dry and awaiting a 
market. A pole fence inclosed the 
tavern, which consisted of one room 
twelve bv sixteen, together with sundry 
stalks of corn which had had roasting 
ears on them once, and guite a number 
of goodly looking pumpkins that seemed 
to Be patiently awaiting their manifest 
destiny. The place had become a post 
town, and the burly Scotch landlord nad 
risen in dignity with the town. “Of 
course,” he very naturally reasoned, 
“many gentlemen will now pass this 
trace to and from Cincinnati— may be 
the Governor himself.” So he forth- 
with determined to fix up to meet the 
emergency in a manner creditable to 
himself and the town. He accordingly 
managed to get a barrel of whisky, the 
first ever in the place, from Manchester, 
and with two tin cups, opened a bar of 
considerable promise in one corner of 
the tavern. 

It was interesting on mail days to 
witness the sensation produced at this 
post town, by the clear ringing notes pf 
the postman’s horn, and to mark the 
importance which that functionary, clad 
in buckskin hunting shirt, coonskin cap, 
&c., with heavy dragoon holsters under 
bearskin cover, assumed when he arriv- 
ed, and the deference with which he 
was received by mine host. But keep- 
ing post office in an uninhabited town 
in the woods soon convinced the effici- 
ent master that there was no money in 
it, however much honor there might be, 
for neither letters nor papers were 
found in the bagp directed to New 
Market. From this the post master 
naturally inferred that outsiders by 
some unaccountable ignorance or stu- 
pidity, were not aware of the fact that 
such a post town as New Market existed 
in the north-western territory with such 
a post master as Wm. Wishart, or they 
certainly would direct letters to it. He, 
therefore, prompted by a laudable desire 
to enlighten his fellow-men on the sub- 
ject, set about writing letters to every 
person he ever knew, and many whom 
he had only heard of. The business of 
the office, thus, for a time, became re- 



spectable for a new place, and the pub- 
lic became advised of the important fact 
that such a place as New Market had a 
real existence on the pack-trace some 
where between Zanesville and Cincin- 
nati. They also learned that there was 
such an individual as William Wishart, 
post master. The business of writing 
letters did not, however, prove lucra- 
tive, and as very few of those to whom 
he wrote chose to keep up the corre- 
spondence, he finally abandoned it, and 
resigned his place of P. M. 

This same fall Jacob and Enoch 
Smith, becoming impressed with the in- 
creasing importance of their- mill and 
settlement at the falls of Paint, very 
naturally conceived the idea of laying 
out a town too. They accordingly pro- 
cured the services of a surveyor, the 
name of whom unfortunately tradition 
has failed to hand down, and proceeded 
to run the lines of streets, alleys, &c., 
of a pretty good sized town, all things 
considered ; which after it was blazed 
out, the streets all named, chiefly for 
distinguished officers of the revolution- 
ary era except two, Virginia and Hud- 
son streets, they proceeded to name 
New Amsterdam. The Smiths were 
doubtless of Dutch origin, and in naming 
their great manufacturing emporium of 
the falls, their thoughts were of the 
Fatherland beyond the waters. This 
place, however, with all its promise of 
rich lands, great water-privileges and 
collection of world-renowned names for 
itself and streets, was doomed to an 
early death. It never attained to any 
great consequence, and soon ceased to 
be • noted among the towns of the 
country. It has long since disappeared, 
and with it has also gon* from the busy 
world the fact that it ever had an ex- 
istence, though the mill stood and did 
good service For many years. 

In the early part of this same fall 
(1799) the first improvement was made 
in the newly laid out town of Greenfield, 
by one Job Wright, an odd sort of slack 
twisted genius from the bluffs, south- 
west of Chillicothe. His father and 
family had moved from North Carolina 
a few years before, and settled there; 
but Job did not like to live in a thickly 
settled neighborhood, so he gathered up 
his wife, children, gun ana dogs, and 
packed off to find a more congenial 
locality. He journeyed on briskly up 
the creek, stopping ‘when it suited his 
inclination, to hunt on its banks or fish 
in its waters, in both of which exercises 
he was an adept. He finally arrived at 
the place where McArthur had laid out 
his town, and finding it totally uninhab- 
ited and hunting good, he determined 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



to halt there. So he went to work like 
a sensible man for once and built a cabin 
for his wife and child the first thing. 
This cabin was the first house of any 
description, built in Greenfield, and 
stood on the north-east corner of Main 
and Washington streets, on the ground 
now T occupied by the Franklin House. 
Job was, by profession, a hair sieve 
maker, and plied his trade whenever 
the weather was neither suitable for 
hunting nor fishing. These hair sieves 
were in those days articles of no mean 
importance in the humble domestic es- 
tablishments of the new settlers, for the 
simple reason that wire sieves could not 
be had for love or money, and corn meal 
■whether ground or pounded is not very 
palatable until the bran is separated 
from the meal. By this trade Job man- 
aged to procure the small quantity of 
bread used in his family, but he depend- 
ed chiefly for subsistence on what he 
could catch from the creek. He remain- 
ed only a few years at Greenfield, not 
liking to be hampered up by neighbors, 
and disappeared shortly after the place 
assumed the appearance of a town. Job 
had a favorite place for fishing with a 
hook and line. This was a prorpinent 
rock which stood about one hundred 
and fifty yards above where the bridge 
now stands. It was partly surrounded 
by very deep water, which even yet it is 
said affords excellent fishing. Almost 
every day Job’s red head and long 
beard, reaching half way down his 
beast, might be seen on his perch, rod 
in hand, looking more like a big bald 
eagle than a human hair sieve maker 
of genuine North Carolina growth. He 
fished so long and constantly at this hole 
that it took the name of “Job’s hole,” 
which it has borne up to this day. 

Most persons who design moving to a 
new country are controlled, to a consid- 
erable extent, by descriptions of those 
who have already visited it, and gener- 
ally base their motives to the proposed 
change, on the rich lands of which they 
have heard. Others, possessing, per- 
haps, more fancy than thrift emigrate 
almost solely to gratify a long cherished 
dream of pleasant hills and valleys with 
pure gushing springs alhd sylvan shade 
far removed from the cares and vexa- 
tions of social life, where they may clear 
And till their little fields, tend their 
flocks, and, in the enjoyment of their 
few friends, steal through life in har- 
mony, quiet and happiness. Then the 
bold woodsman of the frontier of his 
native State, who has spent most of his 
time from boyhood in the exciting and 
alluring employment of hunting, finds 
himself at last the head of a growing 



family, who look to him for support. 
Game having gradually receded before 
the steady march of civilization, his old 
hunting grounds have ceased to furnish 
their accustomed inducements to the 
chase, and his best efforts are but 
scantily rewarded. He determines to 
endure it no longer, and soon is packed 
up and on the route to better hunting 
grounds, and he makes his location 
solely with reference to this one thing. 
It may be the inaccessible hill region, 
which no farmer would think of taking 
as a gift, will prove to be the very place 
for the professional hunter, and in the 
first settlement of the North-western 
Territory such was the fact. 

In the spring of 1796 John Kincade, a 
revolutionary veteran, set out with his 
family, from Augusta county, Virginia, 
fo£ the North-western Territory to 
locate his hard-earned land warrant, 
and settle down on the home thus pro- 
vided for his old age. He packed 
through, as was the general custom, and 
crossing the Ohio river at Point Pleas- 
ant, continued on to the wesf of the 
Scioto river, knowing that in the mili- 
tary district he alone could locate his war- 
rant. He finally came through the hills 
to a remarkably large, beautiful and 
pure spring of water, near the banks of 
Sunfish. Here he resolved to halt, 
locate his land around the spring and 
settle down. This spring is about six 
miles east of the village of Sinking 
Spring, in this county, and is known as 
Kincade’s big spring to this day. The 
settlement in the course of a year be- 
came known, and in the year 179S, 
Charles and James Hughey purchased 
land of Joseph Karr, in the vicinity. 
James settled on his land the following 
March, and in September Charles arriv- 
ed with his family on his, w T hich increas- 
ed the settlement to thirteen persons. 
This settlement was then frequently 
visited by Indians, who still continued 
to chase the deer on the Sunfish hills, 
and was then a part of Ross county. 
Shortly after the addition of Charles 
Hughey to the settlement, it w*as again 
increased by the arrival of two families 
from Pennsylvania, and during the win- 
ter of 1799 Reuben Bristol, from Ken- 
tucky, and Abraham McCoy, an Irish- 
man, became permanent settlers. By 
this time they had grown quite strong 
as a community and all were freehold- 
ers. The neighborhood now numbered 
thirty-three persons, and might safely 
be pronounced a happy community. 
The most complete and unbroken har- 
mony prevailed. , ’All the essentials of 
social life were present, and none of the 
vices incident to society had become 



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150 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



sufficiently developed to mar the peace 
of the little circle in the wilderness. 
These days are described by the Rev. 
William Hughey, son of Charles, as 
the halcyon days of his life, which 
then, with him, was young and prom- 
ised to be happy. Bear, deer, turkey, 
honey and such like substantial, were 
easily obtained in sufficient abund- 
ance for all their wants. Of all 
the meats, however, that of the bear 
was prized the highest. They found 
some difficulty in preparing their corn 
for bread, and as there were no mills, 
the hominy mortar and grater were put 
into requisition as substitutes. The ad- 
jacent stream afforded pretty good fish- 
ing; and when autumnal dyes tinged 
the woody hills, rich clustering wild 
grapes and chestnuts were gathered in 
abundance and stored for winter. This 
settlement was ’ without government, 
and of course without taxes, politics and 
all the annoyances incident to that ap- 
parently indispensable bitter in the cup 
of civilized life ; and exhibited pretty 
clearly man’s capacity for self govern- 
ment, and the peaceful enjoyment of 
the bounties designed by the Creator 
for his subsistence, comfort and happi- 
ness. These people were by no means 
uncultivated or destitute of the ordi- 
nary means of mental enjoyment. They 
brought a few books with them from 
their old homes, and especially the 
Bible. Sabbath days were not neglect- 
ed, nor the long winter nights passed 
unmindful of their duty to themselves 
and their maker. As is most frequent- 
ly the case with persons of pure purpose 
and well fixed hope, their books were 
chiefly of a devotional character, and it 
seemed their greatest delight to meet 
and hear some good old sermon read by 
one of the party, and join in singing 
some old hymn or song they used to 
hear in other days on the banks of the 
.Susquehanna or in view of the blue out- 
line of Virginia’s mountains. 

During the fall of 1799 New Market 
improved considerably, and before cold 
weather set in six or seven cabins were 
visible from the tavern door. These 
were scattered round in different direc- 
tions over the town plat and sent up 
their slender columns of blue smoke 
through the thin November air, giving 
promise of comfort within. Much of the 
thick underbrush had been cut out and 
the dense forest somewhat opened up, 
which gave the town plat, to some ex- 
tent, the appearance of a rather badly 
managed clearing, in which the fallen 
trees with their brushy tops had not 
yet been prepared for burning. Winter 
fire wood was, therefore, not only 



abundant, but very convenient ; and, as 
the male portion of the inhabitants had 
little else to do but hunt during the 
winter, they rarely failed to cut and 
carry all the wood their capacious cabin 
fire places could consume. 

The permanent settlers of this town, 
on the first day of January, 1800, were 
Eli Collins and family, Isaac Dillon, 
Jacob Eversole, John Eversole, Christian 
Bloom, Robert Boyce, Jacob Beam, John 
Emrie and the enterprising landlord of 
the log cabin hotel, William Wishart. 
Jonathan Berryman lived on his farm 
adjoining the town, several acres of 
which he had cleared out and brought . 
into cultivation, and was regarded the 

S rincipal farmer in the neighborhood. 

[e, that winter, had some surplus corn, 
for which he found ready market at his 
crib. Oliver Ross had built a house on 
his land east of town, the best in the 
settlement. It was a good sized one- 
story house, built of hewed logs, with 
clap-board roof, one room in front with 
a kitchen back. He had also cleared 
and cultivated some ground, and under 
a special license of Gov. St. Clair open- 
ed a tavern. Robert Huston had also 
built a cabin on his land adjoining the 
town and raised a small crop of corn. 
This constituted the New Market settle- 
ment at this date. All the necessaries 
of life except corn and wild meat had to 
be packed from Manchester or Chilli- 
cothe. Milling was of importance of 
course, but not quite as much so as at 
present, for the people in those days, 
somehow or other,, managed to regulate 
their appetites by the supplies, and did 
not seem to need much bread. They 
pounded hominy, grated meal on strong 
iron grates, and'with an occasional grist 
from the mills at the falls of Paint, got 
along pretty well — were hearty and in 
good spirits^ and by spring found that the 
free use of bear’s meat, venison and bear’s 
oil and hominy had by no means reduc- 
ed their physical proportions. Coffee, 
tea and sugar were considered superflu- 
ous and unfashionable, chiefly, how- 
ever, on account of the enormous prices 
they commanded. Bacon could only be 
obtained from traders who brought 
small quantities from Redstone in Penn- 
sylvania. It sold at twenty-five cents a 
pound for sides and had to be packed 
from Manchester. 

Occasionally an effort was made bv 
some lady who had brought a small 
quantity of tea from her old home in 
Kentucky, Jersey, Virginia, Pennsyl- 
vania, or perhaps Manchester, for some 
special occasion. One instance may not 
be entirely without interest at this day. 

A small number of ladies were con- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



gregated at a neighbor’s cabin, shortly 
after New Year, and the best the house 
could afford was of course put in requi- 
sition, to which it was desired to add a 
cup of genuine “Young Hyson.” On 
examination it appeared there was but 
one tire-proof vessel about the house, 
an old broken bake oven. So with this 
they went to work, beginning at the 
substantials. In the first place some 
nice cakes were made and fried in 
bear’s oil in the oven ; then some short 
cakes were baked in it. Then some 
nice venison steaks were fried in it, 
after which it had to be used to carry 
water from the spring, about two hun- 
dred yards distant. The water was 
then heated in it and the tea made, 
which was pronounced excellent. 

The society, as constituted at New 
Market at that time, was perhaps not 
quite as refined as at present, yet the 
people managed to enjoy themselves to 
their own satisfaction. Shooting 
matches in the day time and dances at 
night were not uncommon amusements 
during the winter. It required but 
very Tittle preparation then to com- 
mence the dance, and the young men 
went on the floor with their blooming 
artners dressed in hunting-shirts and 
uckskin breeches and moccasins. 
Fashion and perfumery and all the 
follies of the present day had not then 
intruded themselves upon poor frail 
man, to mar and repress his native ele- 
ments of social delight. Much hunting 
was of course done, and considerable 
whisky consumed, though no outrages 
resulted, and the warm, pleasant days 
of spring found the inhabitants pleased 
with their town in the woods, and act- 
ive in preparation for the labor of the 
coming summer. That spring Gov. 
$t. Clair, passing from Chillicotbe over 
the trace to Cincinnati, stopped at Ross’ 
tavern, much to the vexation of land- 
lord Wishart. Ross was a man of con- 
siderable shrewdness and good hard 
common sense, and having a touch of 
the blarney on his tongue, being a 
County Derry Irish Presbyterian, he 
managed to ingratiate himself with the 
Governor, who shortly after sent him a 
commission as a Territorial Justice of 
the Peace, the first officer of the law 
within the present limits of Highland 
county. This dignity was duly appre- 
ciated by “Squire Ross,” as well as the 
town of New Market. Unfortunately 
though, the commission did not arrive 
early enough to meet the demands of 
the community for legal official servi- 
ces. John Emrie and the new ’Squire’s 
eldest daughter, Margaret, during the 
past winter had been negotiating a con- 



tract, which attained to maturity early 
in the spring and was ready for con- 
summation ; and it being necessary 
that this should be done under sanction 
of law as well as in presence of wit- 
nesses, one John Brown, from the town 
of New Amsterdam, at the falls of 
Paint, was brought up to New Market* 
Whether he was a preacher or a ’Squire 
tradition does not say, but it is clear % 
that he was fully empowered to sol-* 
ernnize the rites of matrimony. So he 
married John Emrie and Margaret 
Ross. This ceremony took place at 
’Squire Ross’ tavern, adjoining the plat 
of the present town of New Market* 
,east, on the Chillicothe road, and they 
were the first couple married within 
the present county of Highland. To 
this wedding of course all the neigh- 
borhood were invited. It took place 
about 11 o’clock in the morning. The 
party partook of a substantial dinner 
at 12, and spent the afternoon in various- 
amusements— shooting at a mark, run- 
ning foot races, romping with the girls, 
<&c., winding up with a dance at night. 

This year (1800) the seat of Govern- 
ment of the North-west Territory 
having been removed by act of Con- 
gress from Cincinnati to Chillicothe* 
the erection of a State House was com- 
menced at that place, for the accom- 
modation of the Territorial Legisla- 
ture and Courts. This is said to have 
been the first public stone edifice built 
in the Territory. The mason- work of 
it was done by Major William Rutlidge, 
a soldier of the Revolution. The Ter- 
ritorial Legislature held their first 
session in this building in 1801, and the 
Constitutional Convention that formed 
the old constitution, held their session 
in it. The State Legislature occupied 
it, with the exception of two years, till 
the seat of the State Government was 
permanently established at Columbus,, 
after which Ross county occupied it as 
a court house until a few years ago, 
when it was pulled down to give place’ 
to a more approved structure. 

Chillicothe was now the most im- 
portant point in the North-west, being 
the capital of an empire of territory 
whose extreme North-western line cut 
the head of Lake Superior, and return- 
ing east formed the dividing line be- 
tween the British Possessions and 
those of the United States, west of the 
Allegheny Mountains ; but it was|an 
empire only in territory, wild beasts 
and Indians, and the town the capital 
of a wilderness. Yet it soon became 
the center of wealth, fashion and ele- 
gance, and drew its trade and extend- 
ed its influence for hundreds of miles. 



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52 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 

Its basy and crowded streets presented The haughty chief and warriors from 
the appearance of a city in which the the shores of Erie and Huron, clad in 
uncouth trapper and trader from the barbaric splendor, not unfrequently 
far west, clad in the skins of wild mingled in the throng, silent spectators- 
beasts, jostled the grave judge of the of the devastation wrought by the in- 
United States Court, the wise Legisla- novating hand of civilization on the 
tor, or the courtly and fashionably beautiful hereditary hunting grounds 
dressed Secretary of the Governor, of the red man. 



o 

CHAPTER XIII, 

FIRST SETTLERS AT GREENFIELD — THE POET CURRY — MAJOR ANTHONY 
FRANKLIN SETTLES IN THE COUNTY — NATHANIEL POPE AND FAMILY 
START FROM VIRGINIA FOR THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



E ARLY in the spring of 1800 John 
Coffey, Lewis Lutteral, Samuel Schoo- 
ley, Joseph Parmer, James Curry, 
James Milligan and William Hell 
moved into Greenfield and commenced 
building houses and making other nec- 
essary improvements with the view of 
a permanent residence. The next spring 
Mr. Bell died. This was the first death 
in the place, except a small child of Mr. 
Coffey. He left a widow and six chil- 
dren, three sons and three daughters. 
The three sons all married, settled 
down in Greenfield, and became prom- 
inent and active business men. Joseph 
and Charley learned the blacksmith 
trade, and were the first to set up that 
business in the town. Josiali learned 
the hatting business and established 
the first hatter shop in the town. In 
the course of time, by industry and 
close attention to business, they all 
prospered and became wealthy, and 
established themselves as dry goods 
merchants, and Josiah and Charley 
soon became the prominent merchants 
of the place. Joseph removed many 
years ago to Washington, Fayette 
county. Josiah died in 1853 or 1854. 
John Coffee continued to reside for 
many years in the vicinity of Greenfield, 
and filled several offices both in church 
and State. After rearing a large family 
he died full of years and in Christian 
peace. James Curry only remained 
a few years, having removed to 
Union county and settled on a 
farm on the banks of Darby Creek in 
1811, where he died in 1834. In early 
youth he was with the Virginia forces 
at the bloody battle of Point Pleasant. 
He served as an officer in the Virginia 
Continential line, during the greater 






part of the Revolutionary war, and 
was taken prisoner by the British 
when the American army surrendered 
at Charleston, S. C. During his resi- 
dence in Ohio, he was extensively 
known, and had many warm friends 
among the leading men throughout 
the State. He was frequently elected 
to the State Legislature, and was one 
of the electors by whom the vote of 
the State was given to James Monroe 
in 1820. The last of many public trusts 
which he held was that of Associate 
Judge for his county. His son James, 
still (1858) resides on the homestead, is a 
prominent farmer and highly respected 
citizen. Otway Curry, his youngest son, 
was born in Greenfield, in Highland 
county, on the 26th of March, 1804. 
lie was a most promising boy and his 
father took great care in his education, 
with the design of preparing him for 
the bar. The Curries were of Scotch 
origin, and remotely related to the 
poet, Burns. It is not pretended that 
genius is hereditary, but the peculiar 
temperament characteristic of poets as 
a class may be, and it is not improbable 
that young Curry's bent of mind thus 
originated. At any rate he greatly 
vexed his kind and worthy parents by 
his comparatively idle and dreamy 
habits. He was an assiduous student, 
but not of the substantial branches 
taught in the schools. A copy of 
Burns or Cowper, or some other poet 
was too often found where Euclid 
should have been, until finally he com- 
mitted, as Burns says, the sin of rhyme. 
He was a poet, and felt that to be his 
true vocation. His father, however, 
determined not to be thwarted In his 
purpose, and early placed him in a law 



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53 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



office. Otway exerted himself to please 
his father, and labored over the musty 
voumes of dry and incomprehensible 
law to no purpose. His thoughts were 
with his heart and tiiat was far away 
amid the scenes recorded in heroic and 
pastoral song, or reveling in gorgeous 
beauties of an ideal existence. At 
length he determined to escape. So in 
the nineteenth year of his age he ran 
off, and finding himself in Cincinnati 
without money or friends, but with a 
manly heart and strong arm, he appren- 
ticed himself to the carpenter trade. 
He thus escaped being a lawyer, and 
had leisure to cultivate his genius in 
poetry and elegant literature. He re- 
mained thus employed some years, dur- 
ing which time his name became known 
amongst the first poets of the west. His 
poems are generally short magazine 
and newspaper productions, yet they 
possess the true ring of the "genuine 
mettle, and are true to nature, express- 
ing a warmth of heart, a pathos and 
elegance equaled only by the true poet. 
His outset as a poet promised a brilliant 
career, but from some unknown cause, 
his latter years did not realize it to the 
world. But much he has written will 
survive. Many sweet fugitive poems, 
which years ago stirred the hearts of 
the readers of western literature, owe 
their paternity to him. During the year 
’53 he was editor of the Chillicothe 
Gazette , but retired from that post in 
the autumn of , 54, with the view of 
practicing law in Marysville, Union 
county, to which place he removed. In 
the latter part of the following Febru- 
ary he died after an illness of two weeks. 

During the spring and summer of 
1800 Gen. Massie erected on his farm at 
the falls of Paint, on the south side, a 
large and elegant mansion, and marry- 
ing a daughter of Col. Meade, of Ken- 
tucky, took up his residence on his farm, 
where his hospitable home was open to 
all his old associates and visitors from 
old States. He seemed to ttfke peculiar 
pleasure, in which his accomplished 
wife joined, in entertaining his war- 
worn and woods companions. 

This improvement by Massie attract- 
ed many persons to the neighborhood 
of the falls. A large number of 
mechanics were necessary, and they 
mostly came from the East. The town 
of New Amsterdam also was benefited 
in an increase of population, capital 
and industry, and it began to present 
the appearance rather than the promise 
of a town, greatly to the gratification 
of honest Jacob Smith. 

While these things were going on at 
the falls, the rival upland town of New 



Market was by no means idle. Quite a 
considerable accession was made 
through the spring and summer of 
good substantial settlers, who went to 
work with energy and determination to 
build cabins and clear out the ground. 
Before the commencement of winter 
much of the logs and brush had disap- 
peared from the principal streets, and 
the number of cabins, pole pens and 
half-faced camps were quite respectable. 
The place began to wear something 
like a business appearance. A good 
corn crop that year promised a supply 
for home consumption, and the solemn 
toll of the cow bells, as they slowly 
wended their way home after a day’s 
grazing on the luxuriant peavine, spoke 
of the luxury of plenty of milk and 
butter. So that upon the whole the 
town really seemed td be in a prosper- 
ous and thriving condition. And to 
crown all and make the hope for the 
approaching winter bright and un- 
clouded, landlord Wisliart landed from 
his oxcart a new supply of old Monon- 
gahela. 

In the fall of this year (1800) Major 
Anthony Franklin built a cabin on the 
trace from New Market to New Am- 
sterdam, about three miles east of 
where the village of Marshall now 
stands in the present county of High- 
land. This was the first improvement 
in that immediate vicinity. This tene- 
ment was soon made by additions quite 
comfortable and convenient, and stood 
on the land on which thaMajor long 
resided, and within a short distance of 
the present residence, until within a 
few* years. His house, being the only 
one between the two towns, was for 
many years a stopping place for travel- 
ers, w r ho always met a kind and hospit- 
able reception” Among. the many men 
of distinction who were there enter- 
tained were Gov. St. Clair and Aaron 
Burr. 

Major Fl’anklin emigrated fionr 
Amherst county, Virginia, in 1794* and 
being a carpenter was attracted to the 
falls of Paint, and assisted as one of 
the builders of Gen. Massie’s mansion. . 
The Indians were quite frequent visit- 
ors at his cabin at this time, and con- 
tinued to hunt in the surrounding hills • 
for some four or five years afterwards.. 

On the 9th of December, 1800, Gen.. 
St. Clair, by proclamation, established 
Clermont county, which was bounded 
on the east by a line running due north 
from the mouth of Elk Kiver (Eagle 
Creek.) This included some two or 
three miles of the present county of 
Highland on the western border. ’Wil- 
liamsburg was made the county seat. 






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54 A HISTORY. OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 



and good public buildings erected, but 
it was subsequently’ removed to New 
Richmond in 1820, and on February 24th, 
1824, permanently transferred to 
Batavia. 

Emigration from the old States west 
was quite a different thing at that 
time to what it is now, and required a 
moral courage to undertake, and an 
energy and determination to consum- 
mate, little short of that which carried 
Napoleon over the Alps and Columbus 
to the Indies. The second half of the 
nineteenth century abounds in appli- 
ances of ease and luxury, of which it 
had never entered into the heart of man 
to conceive at the close of the last half 
of the eighteenth. And the emigrant 
from Virginia, Massachusetts or Ohio, 
who to-day settles in his mind to pull 
up stakes and go to the West, selects 
his point, it may be on the prairies of 
Iowa or the plains of Utah, or the 
shores of the Pacific, and he, with his 
family and goods are borne forward 
with the speed of the wind, till his 
journey is completed, and at the end of 
two or three days he is quietly set 
down, all safe, a thousand miles from 
his old home, but not in a wilderness, 
nor in a new settlement where the old- 
fashioned log cabin, solitary occupant 
of the little clearing, alone greets him, 
but In a populous city filled with a 
busy throng of polished population, in 
which abound all Uhe luxuries of the 
East. He finds houses, cottages and 
out-buildings in market, all ready fram- 
ed and finished for shipping and speedy 
erection. He buys to suit his purse and 
taste, ships by the railroad to his land 
in the midst of the prairie, takes on 
hands, and in one week his new farm 
is graced with a pretty gothic cottage 
of five or six rooms, finished in and out 
in city style. A supply of furniture is 
also obtained at the city, and at the end 
of ten days his wife and family arrive 
from the hotel where they have been 
awaiting the completion of the arrange- 
ments, to find not only a comfortable 
but a luxurious home. He hires a pro- 
fessional prairie-breaker, and in two 
weeks more he has twenty or thirty 
acres in corn, and before it is fairly up 
it is surrounded by a plank fence. Thus 
in six weeks from the time he sets out 
from his old home he finds himself on 
a better farm, more comfortably situ- 
ated than he was before. In short, in 
that brief space of time he has attained 
all except, perhaps, an orchard, that the 
new settler in Southern Ohio, 
was only able, by the great- 
est effort, to secute in thirty years of 
industry and constant drudgery. The 



emigrant to the West at the present day 
necessarily encounters none of the 
dangers, hardships and toils which were 
inevitable at that time, and there- 
fore the characteristics of the early 
pioneer are not found in the new States. 
The race appears to be almost extinct, 
and the few who do survive are more 
likely to be discovered in the sequester- 
ed valleys of Southern Ohio, than on 
the broad and fertile plains of the West. 

In the fall of 1796 Nathaniel Pope 
set out with his family from Virginia 
for the North-western Territory. He 
had constructed a narrow cart, adapted 
to the mountain track, with ropes at- 
tached at each side, ready to be seized 
whenever necessity required to prevent 
upsetting. In this homely vehicle 
were stored one bed and some bedding, 
together with the portable articles most 
prized by the family. The necessary 
kitchen furniture was packed on horses. 
Mrs. Pope rode a horse on a pack, and 
the remainder of the family, consisting 
of several boys and girls, walked and 
rode as opportunity offered. Thus 
equipped, with a rifle on his shoulder 
and three or four good hunting dogs 
following with cart, pack-horses and 
cows with bells on in the rear, the fam- 
ily turned their faces towards the 
north-west, in the midst of that calm, 
half-dim, half-bright— dreamy, and to 
many, melancholy season known as 
Indian Summer. The “movers” pro- 
gressed, as a matter of course, slowly, 
camping out of nights, sometimes on 
the mountain, sometimes in tbe valley, 
by pine knot fires. This was by no 
means unpleasant, particularly to the 
younger portion of the family, for the 
soft balmy moon-light nights were en- 
joyed quite as much as the day, and 
many a coon and ’possum did the boys 
and dogs capture while the remainder 
of the family slept soundly after the 
day’s fatigue. 

Towards the latter end of November 
they arrived at the falls of the Great 
Kanawha, The weather had become 
wet, cold and very disagreeable for 
traveling, provided as they were. Bo 
they determined to winter there, having 
been very kindly received by a worthy 
farmer, Mr. Leonard Murrice, who sup- 
plied them with shelter, corn, pumpkins, 
turnips, &c. Mr. Pope and his elder 
sons were good hunters, and easily 
supplied the family with winter meat 
of the choicest description. They beat 
hominy, made and mended moccasins, 
leggins, &c., of nights and inclement 
days. So passed the winter. In the 
latter part of February they tapped 
sugar trees and made a supply of sugar. 






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55 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



Preparatory to another start for the 
north-west Mr. Pope cut a large tree on 
the hill side, made a scaffold of poles 
and forks, against the steep side of the 
hill, rolled the logs on it, and with a 
whip saw, which he borrowed, and two 
of his boys at the lower end, sawed 
plank enough, and then went to work 
and constructed a pretty good sized 
boat, which he launched and loaded 
with his goods, except his live stock, 
and getting aboard with his family, he 
hallooed to an old hunter to cut the 
grapevine, when his little craft round- 
ed out handsomely into the current, all 
waiving their caps and huzzaing good- 
bye. Mr. Murrice had given the voyag- 
ers a pretty accurate knowledge of the 
channel of the river, and they trusted 
to fortune and care for success. In the 
course of an hour’s run they came to 
the rapids, which they had the luck to 
pass in safety, with the trifling excep- 
tion of a thorough ducking from the 
water thrown over the sides of the 
boat. After this danger was safely 
passed they landed, built a large fire 
and warmed and dried themselves, ate 
their supper and rested till morning. 
They set out again in the morning and 
passed down in safety to the Ohio, 
when the joy of all was expressed by 
three hearty cheers, the boys standing 
at the bow of the boat, coon skin caps 
in hand, to greet with heart-felt huzza 
the far-famed territory north-west of 
the Ohio. They landed at the French 
Station— Gallipolis— and having a good 
stock of bear and coon skins, the pro- 
ducts of the last fall and winter’s hunt, 
they went to a trading house and laid 
in a supply of necessaries, such as 
powder, lead, tomahawks, butcher 
knives, &c., together with Indian 
shawls, cotton cloths, &c. They then 
contined their voyage down the Ohio 
in fine spirits, taking care to keep in 
the middle ot the river and lying to at 
night on the Virginia side. Towards 
the evening of the second day they 
came in sight of a large and beautiful 
bottom, which Mr. Pope at once recog- 
nized as that which he had explored a 
year or two before in company with 
Thomas Beals and others. He there- 
fore landed at the mouth of a little 
creek called Paddy, about a mile above 
the mouth of Guyandott. on the north- 
ern side of the Ohio. They were pleas- 
ed wuth this location, and the bottom 
appearing very rich and easily cleared, 
they determined to pitch their tent for 
a season. So all hands went to work 
and put up a half-faced camp of poles 
in which the family sheltered until a 
small patch was cleared and planted in 



corn, pumpkins and potatoes, around 
which they madeai>rush fence. When 
they left Kanawha in a boat, Mr. Pope’s 
eldest son, William, and his cousin, 
John Walters, were started with the 
horses and other stock by land. All the 
meal the family used was beat in a 
hominy block. jDuring the summer an- 
other family came down in a small 
boat, and stopped on the same bottom 
with Pope. They concluded to try the 
experiment of constructing a mill on 
the two boats, to be propelled by the 
current of the river. They finally suc- 
ceeded pretty well, but had to go to 
the current which was on the Virginia 
side. They lashed the boats with a 
long and large grape vine to a tree just 
above the mouth of Guyandott. The 
boats were then pushed out into the 
current with long poles and held there 
while grinding. The mill did quite as 
well as could be expected, and supplied 
the wants of all in the way of meal. 

Nathaniel Pope and Jessie Baldwin 
were the first who settled on that bot- 
tom. John Walter came next, then 
Thomas Beals, the preacher, and his 
sons, and shortly afterward Obadiah 
Overman and his brother Zebulon, and 
others. These settlers with their fam- 
ilies formed, by this time, quite a large 
community, all of whom were of the 
Society of Friends; and here on the 
peaceful but wild and lonely banks of 
the beautiful Ohio Thomas Beals 
preached the first Friends’ sermon ever 
delivered in the Northwestern Territo- 
ry. The male portibn of the congrega- 
tion were dressed, without an excep- 
tion, in leather, and the females in 
fabrics of their own manufacture, 
chiefly linen and cotton. Truly might 
it have been said, that from this little 
handful of worshipers the vices and 
vanities of the world were far remov- 
ed, leaving but few obstructions be- 
tween the temporal ear and the gentle 
admonitions of the Spirit within. 

In the fall, after the frost had wilted 
the nettle leaves, Mrs. Pope had her 
two youngest boys gather a quantity 
of the stalks and beat them with mal- 
lets, until the lint was fairly loosened; 
she then hackled and spun it into 
thread. She then carded and spun buf- 
falo wool and wove linsey, of which 
she made the boys clothes for the win- 
ter. 

One day while all were at meeting 
word came that the floating mill had 
broken loose from its fastenings and 
gone off down the river. The meeting 
was immediately dismissed, and all the 
active young men dispatched, with jerk 
and johnny-cake in pocket, after it. 



* 



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56 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



They could not, of course, know when 
they set out how fac they' would have 
to go, or indeed whether they should 
be able to overhaul it at all, but it was 
a most indispensable piece of property, 
and they were resolved to make the 
effort. They pursued in canoes till 
they arrived at Hanging Rock, where 
to their great joy they found the mill, 
which had been caught and fastened 
to the Ohio shore by a settler at that 
point. 

That fall (1798) Pope, whose eldest 
son was a first-rate woodsman and 
hunter, contracted to furnish Uriah 
Paulding’s salt works with meat, and 
they killed during the fall and winter 
eighty-three bears and ten buffaloes, 
besides deer and turkeys in large num- 
bers. The hunting grounds were on 
$ymmes Creek and Raccoon. The meat 
was carried to the place of delivery on 
pack-horses, and the peltry taken up to 
the French traders at Gallipolis. 

During the summer the settlers as- 
certained that the land on which they 
had settled could not be purchased at 
what they considered a fair rate, so, 
much to their regret, they determined 
to break up their pleasant little com- 
munity and move to some point in the 
interior. The rich valley of the Scioto 
had been visited by some of the settlers 
a few veal's previous, and they deter- 
mined to seek new homes somewhere 
on the waters of that river. Accord- 
ingly in the fall of 1799 Pope and John 
Walter, with their families, prepared 
to leave their friends on Quaker Bot- 
tom. They sent their wagons, carts, 
plows, etc., round by the river to Chil- 



licothe, and packed through the woods, 
driving their cattle and hogs, to the 
Pee Pee Prairie, thence on a newly 
made trace over the Scioto and Sunfisli 
Hills to the falls of Paint, where they 
wintered. Pope sold most of his stock 
to General Massie for corn and land, 
the land to be selected from any of his 
unsold lands in the Territory. During 
that winter Pope explored the country 
lying on the head waters of Lees Creek, 
Paint, Hardin’s Creek and Rattlesnake 
as far west as the East fork of the 
Miami, and finally selected a place 
where Leesburg now stands. While 
he was thus engaged his elder sons 
were hunting and trapping beaver. 
Paint Creek, from the falls up to the 
mouth of Rattlesnake, at that time was 
a favorite haunt of the beaver, and 
they inhabited it in great numbers. 

The next spring (1800) the party 
moved up to the place selected by Pope. 
They had to cut their way through the 
woods pretty much the whole distance, 
a part of the route being on the old In- 
dian trail from Oldtown on the North 
fork of Paint to old ChilHcothe on the 
Miami. They arrived at last, after a 
tedious and fatiguing journey, and 
camped near a spring on the left-hand 
side of the present road leading from 
Leesburg to William Hardy’s fulling 
mill. All hands then went to work 
and cleared out a piece of ground on 
the adjoining Lees creek bottom and 
planted corn. Lees creek was named 
for General Charles Lee, of the Revo- 
lution. whose land warrants, received 
from the Government for military ser- 
vices, were located on its waters. 



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CHAPTER XlV. 



HUGH EVANS {SETTLES ON CLEAR CREEK— PLANTS THE FIRST CORN, BUILDS 
A “SWEAT MILL,” AND PROSPERS, WHILE NATHANIEL POPE IS SOWING 
TOE FIRST WHEAT, AND WILLIAM POPE, JOHN WALTERS AND OTHERS 
ARE HUNTING BEAR. ON LEES CREEK AND RATTLESNAKE WITH THE 



INDIANS, AND THE FIN LEY 8 AND 
AND TRIALS ON WHITEOAK. 

I N the spring of 1800 Hugh Evans, 
with several of his sons and sons* 
in-law, settled on Clear creek, in 
the present county of Highland, on a 
three thousand acre tract of land enter- 
ed and surveyed for him by General 
Massie some years before. Mr. Evans 
emigrated from George’s creek settle- 
ment, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1788, with his numerous family, to 
Kentucky. That locality, being near 
the southwestern border, had, in com- 
mon with Ihe entire frontier of the 
State, suffered much from incursions 
of the Indians; and many were the 
peaceful homes laid in ashes by their 
relentless hands, while the inmates 
were either slain or carried into cap- 
tivity. Evans was, therefore, no stran- 
ger to the terrors of Indian warfare, 
and hesitated not to avail himself of 
the opportunity to make an early selec- 
tion from the celebrated rich lands of 
Kentucky, which land of promise was 
then the far west. So he loaded his 
household goods on a flatboat, and with 
his family started down the Mononga- 
hela river, in company with two other 
boats having a like destination. They 
passed on down to Wheeling, then an 
extreme outpost of civilization. At 
that place they received intelligence 
that the Indians were taking every 
boat that went down the river. They 
therefore deemed it prudent to delay 
awhile; but in the course of a couple of 
days several other boats came down, 
one of which had seventy soldiers on 
board. They all held a conference, and 
the majority being of the opinion that 
they were now strong enough to meet 
the enemy, they determined to set out 
on the perilous voyage. They kept all 
the boats as close together as possible, 
the leader taking the middle of the 
river. Soldiers were posted on the 
boats with rifles in hand, ready at any 
moment for an attack. As they passed 
down they saw several places where 
turkey buzzards were collected on the 
trees and hovering round, which the 



DAVIDSON FIND SIMILAR EXCITEMENT 



voyagers doubted not were the vicinity 
of the dead bodies of emigrants, killed 
and scalped by the Indians. The little 
fleet, however, passed on unmolested* 
and in due time arrived in safety at 
Limestone (Maysville). From % this 
place Mr. Evans took his family and 
goods to Bourbon county, and settled 
near Paris, where he built some log 
cabins, cleared out the cane break for a 
corn patch, and depended, like his 
neighbors, on the buffalo, bear and deer 
for meat. Here they were in constant 
danger from the ever-watchful and 
bloodthirsty Indians, who, during the 
spring, summer and fall, were almost 
daily making attacks upon the border 
Kentucky settlements, burning houses, 
killing the inhabitants, and stealing 
horses. These stations were, of course, 
all fortified ; and whenever the alarm 
was given the women and children 
were hurried to the fort, and the men 
started in pursuit of the enemy. After 
Wayne’s treaty with the Indians ren- 
dered the prospects for a continued 
peace probable, Mr. Evans and his fam- 
ily started for the country north of the 
Ohio river, for they did not like to live 
in a slave State. But when they reach- 
ed the river they learned that it was 
still dangerous to cross; they therefore 
concluded to stop awhile longer. They 
built three cabins on Cabin creek, 
about three miles from the river, and 
cleared out corn patches. During their 
residence at this place Mr. Evans and 
his sons made several trips across the 
river to look at the country, and select- 
ed the land which General Massie loca- 
ted on Clear creek. 

In the spring of 1799 Mr. Evans, with 
his sons and sons-in-law, came over and 
built their cabins, and the spring fol- 
lowing moved their families. When 
they first came they followed a trace 
from Manchester to New Mark&t, from 
which place to their land on Clear 
creek they had to steer their way 
through the unbroken forest by the 
aid of a compass. 



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$8 A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY . 0H70. 



Hugh Evans, the father, built his 
cabin on the farm where Daniel Duck- 
wall afterward lived, William Hill next 
below on the creek, Amos next, then 
Daniel, Samuel, Joseph Swearingen, 
George Wilson and Richard Evans. 
Swearingen, Wilson and Amos Evans 
did not, however, move out till some 
time after. At that time this settle- 
ment formed the extreme frontier, 
there being no white man’s house to 
the north with the exception, perhaps, 
of a small settlement at Franklinton. 

Richard Evans started with his fam- 
ily from Kentucky in March, 1800, there 
being considerable snow on the ground. 
The first detachment consisted of a 
strong team, two horses and two oxen, 
hitched to a large sled, with a pretty 
capacious bed prepared for the purpose 
and jfllled with such things as were 
most needed, leaving the remainder to 
come in the wagon when the ground 
got firm. The snow lasted till they 
reached their new home in the midst of 
the unbroken forest. But little time 
remained to clear out the bottom and 
prepare it for corn, and it was a heavy 
job. But first of all, sugar had to be 
made, for there was none to be obtain- 
ed in any other way. They went to 
work in good heart, and made enough 
sugar for the year, cleared out the 
ground, and by the last of May had 
eight or ten acres fenced in and ready 
to plant. By that time the wagon had 
arrived from Kentucky with a supply 
of seed corn, seed potatoes and a little 
hour, which was a great rarity in those 
days and mostly came down the river 
from Pennsylvania. The wagon also 
brought a good supply of corn meal, 
which was the main dependence for 
bread. The first corn planted on the 
farm of the late Richard Evans was 
planted on the last day of May and the 
first day of June, 1800. The soil being 
loose and rich, the corn grew rapidly 
and yielded an abundant crop, sufficient 
for the family and some to spare, while 
pumpkins, potatoes and turnips grew 
in large quantities. When the corn 
began to ripen— and that was not any 
too soon, for the meal tub was almost 
empty— the question was how to get it 
round, for there was no mill. At 
rst a tin grater answered the purpose, 
but soon the corn got too hard. Rich- 
ard Evans was, however, equal to the 
emergency, so he went to work and 
constructed what was called a sweat 
mill, which fully supplied the wants 
for a time. Many, doubtless, are curi- 
ous to know what a sweat mill is. In 
the first place a sycamore gum about 
three feet long and two feet in the hol- 



low, then a broad stone is dressed, and 
a small hole bored in the middle of it. 
This stone is nicely fit in the head of 
the gum, the face about nine inches 
below the top; then another is made to 
fit exactly on the' face of the first, hav- 
ing a considerable hole in which to 
throw the corn with the hand. Then a 
hand pole with an iron spike in the end 
to work in a small shallow hole near 
the outer edge of the surface of the 
top stone. The upper end of this stick 
is fastened some feet above the head, 
and as the upper stone is hung on a 
spindle that passes through the lower 
one, it can be turned by hand very eas- 
ily, and grind pretty fast. 

The Indians were very numerous in 
the neighborhood at that time, and vis- 
ited the cabins of the Clear creek set- 
tlement almost every day, perfectly 
friendly and harmless, but most gener- 
ally hungry. 

The act of Congress organizing the 
Northwestern Territory provided that 
whenever there were five thousand free 
male inhabitants of full age in the Ter- 
ritory they should be, authorized to elect 
Representatives to a Territorial Legis- 
lature, who, when chosen, were requir- 
ed to nominate ten freeholders of five 
hundred acres, of whom the President 
was to appoint five, who were to con- 
stitute the Legislative Council. Rep- 
resentatives were to serve two years 
and Councilmen five. Early in 1798, 
the census having been taken^ it was 
apparent that the inhabitants were en- 
titled to this change in their form of 
overnment, which had previously 
een confided exclusively to the Gov- 
ernor and Judges appointed by the 
President and Senate of the United 
States. Accordingly Representatives 
were elected, and the first Territorial 
Legislature assembled at Cincinnati on* 
the 24th day of September, 1799, and 
having organized for business Govern- 
or St. Clair addressed the two houses. 
At this session an act was passed to 
confirm and give force to the laws en- 
acted by the Governor and Judges, the 
validity of which had been doubted. 
The whole number of the acts which 
received the approval of the Governor 
at this session was thirty-seven. Be- 
fore the adjournment William H. Har- 
rison was elected Delegate to Congress. 

During the fall of 1800 the first wheat 
known to have been sowed in the pres- 
ent county of Highland was sowed by 
Nathaniel Pope on a few acres of 
ground where the brick school house 
now stands in the town of Leesburg. 

John Walters, who with his family 
accompanied Pope to the Lees creek 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



settlement, settled and built his cabin 
on what is now known as the old Pavey 
place, across the creek from Leesburg. 
The same fall James Howard moved 
in and built his cabin on the hill near 
the trace to Chillicothe,on what is now 
the site of the town of Leesburg. This 
constituted the entire settlement, ex- 
cept their Indian neighbors, who were 
encamped in large numbers all along 
Rattlesnake as far down as the mouth 
of Fall creek. They were almost daily 
visitors at the little settlement, and 
frequently joined the whites in hunt- 
ing. The small patches of corn which 
the new-comers had planted having 
been gathered, but little remained, af- 
ter preparing their cabins for winter, 
but hunting. Some corn was packed 
to the mill at New Amsterdam and a 
pretty good supply of meal thus provid- 
ed, which, aided by the liberal supplies 
of hominy pounded of nights and bad 
days, and the small grists ground on a 
hand mill, which indispensable instru- 
ment in those days was found in almost 
every cabin, enabled them to pass the 
winter in comparative abundance. Log 
cabins at that time were far from com- 
: fortless. As a general thing their in- 
mates were robust and healthy, and 
their wants were limited to the absolute 
necessities of life, which reasonable in- 
dustry never failed to supply. Bear and 
buffalo skins furnished warm and pleas- 
ant beds ; the surrounding forest sup- 
plied the ample fire-place, and the rich 
odor of the johnny-cake and the broiled 
venison was quite as inviting to the 
backwoodsman then, as is the richest 
and most varied repast to the votary of 
ease and luxury at the present day. 

Many of the Indians became quite so- 
cial, and as they acquired a little Eng- 
lish, or the settlers learned some words 
of their language, grew quite communi- 
cative. They pointed out, when on 
hunting expeditions on the banks of 
Lees creek, Rattlesnake, Hardins and 
Fall creek, trees where they had secured 
prisoners in former times. One day late 
in the fall, as the Popes were hunting on 
the waters of Hardins creek, the dogs 
started a bear, which ran within hearing 
of an Indian camp. The dogs of the In- 
dian joined in the chase. The Popes 
were on horseback following the dogs. 
The Indian met them on foot, gun in 
hand, and intimated, half by gestures 
and half by words, that he would like to 
join in the sport if one of the whites 
would dismount and thus place himself 
upon an equal footing with the Indian. 
William Pope readily accepted the ban- 
ter, and he and the Shawnee started on 
foot. They soon got ahead of the horse- 



men, and passing down the hill, since 
occupied oy the residence of Beverly 
Milliner, Pope gained on the Indian, but 
when they came to the creek the Indian 
ran straight through, while Pope made a 
slight curve to a riffle, after which the 
Indian gradually gained ground, and 
finally reached the place where the dogs 
had the bear treed about the same time 
as Pope, but as the Indians like to save 
powder by getting close to the mark, 
while he was creeping up to get a good 
shot Pope took rest against a tree and 
fired first. The bear came down badly 
wounded, and a desperate fight with the 
dogs ensued at the foot of the tree. At 
length the bear caught a favorite dog 
and was killing him. Pope signed to 
the Indian, who was nearest, to rush in 
and tomahawk the bear, but he refused, 
simply saying “White man.” So Pope 
rushed into the fight to save his dog, 
and by bravery and good luck succeeded 
in tomahawking and knifing the bear 
until he was dead. They then skinned 
him, and giving the Indian as much of 
the meat as he chose to take, they part- 
ed on the best of terms, often to meet 
again as friends and enjoy the sport 
which the widespread and unbroken 
forest of Hardins creek then furnished 
in the greatest abundance. 

Nothing of note occurred at the New 
Market settlement during the fall and 
winter of 1800. No new-comers arrived, 
and those who were there had an abun- 
dance of the substantial necessaries of 
life. So they enjoyed themselves as 
backwoodsmen, free from all the re- 
straints of polished society, usually do. 

In the early part of the spring of 1801 
James B. Finley moved up from Chilli- 
cothe and settled on a tract of land re- 
cently purchased by his father on the 
banks of Whiteo.ak creek. He built his 
cabin near the present residence of 
Judge Johnson, and resolved to follow 
the occupation of a hunter. Mr! Finley 
says he had just married, and his father- 
in-law being dissatisfied with his daugh- 
ter’s choice, did not even allow her to 
take her clothes. So Finley, having 
nothing himself, the couple set out fully 
prepared to realize the glories of “love 
in a cottage.” With the aid of his 
brother John he got his cabin built, into 
which he moved, goto speak, for he 
says he had neither bed, bedding, bag, 
baggage, cow or horse, pig, cat, nor any- 
thing but a wife, gun, dog and axe. In 
order to get a bed he resorted to the not 
unusual expedient in those days, oi 
gathering leaves and drying them m the 
sun, to be used in a tick instead of 
feathers or straw. For a bedstead he 
drove forks into tl^e floor of the cabin, 

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which, like its lining and roof, was of 
bark — then laid poles across, which he 
covered with bark. On this superstruc- 
ture the tick full of nice clean leaves 
•was placed, which with bear skins for 
covering, furnished quite a comfortable 
bed. This done, the next thing was to 
provide something to eat. Of meat Fin- 
ley’s rifle furnished an abundant supply, 
but some bread was occasionally desired. 
80 he went to the New Market neigh- 
borhood and cut and split one hundred 
rails for a bushel of potatoes, which he 
carried home on his back, a distance of 
six miles. At the same place he worked 
a day for a hen and three chickens, 
which he put in his hunting-shirt and 
carried home. Having neither horse or 
plow, he went into a plum bottom near 
the cabin and with his axe grubbed and 
cleared off about an acre and a half, in 
which he dug holes and planted corn, 
without any fence around it. This 
patch he cultivated as well as he could, 
and was rewarded with a crop of nearly 
a hundred bushels. During the summer 
he, with the help of his wife, put up a 
neat cabin, and made it close and warm 
for winter quarters. In order to give 
additional warmth to it, when he hushed 
out his corn he carried and put it on the 
loft. Thus comfortably fixed, he mark- 
ed the approach of winter with indiffer- 
ence, for, although he had no meal for 
bread, hominy, bear’s meat and venison 
were abundant, and, he says, no couple 
on earth lived happier or more content- 
ed than he and his wife in their snug 
little cabin in the midst of the woods. 
Indians often called on him, and fre- 
quently stayed all night. 

In the fall Robert W. Finley and his 
family, consisting of John, William, Sam- 
uel and Robert, jr., moved up and set- 
tled near James, and shortly after John 
Davidson, with his family, weary of the 
sickly valley of the Scioto, left the 
neighborhood of Chillicothe and settled 
on Whiteoak in the vicinity of the Fin- 
leys. Mr. Davidson had removed from 
Fayette county,’ Ky., to Chillicothe in 
1797. The settlement on Whiteoak now 
numbered some fifteen persons, who be- 
ing of necessity social in their inter- 
course, and all the males who were old 
enough hunters, but little rivalry, except 
in the chase, was known. The generous 
hospitality characteristic of pioneer 
days was common to all, and when any 
one wanted help all were ready to aid 
him to the utmost extent of their power. 
The greater part of the winter was spent 
in hunting, and a store of summer pro- 
visions thus laid up. The bear was the 
most valuable, and therefore most gen- 
erally hunted. That fall there was a 



good mast, and bears were so plentiful 
that it was not necessary to go far from 
the settlement to find them. About 
Christmas they made their turkey hunt, 
and killed large numbers of them. To 
preserve them for summer use they 
cleaned them, cut them in two, and after 
salting them in troughs, hung them up 
to dry. In summer they cooked them 
in bear’s oil. The dry breasts stewed in 
bear’s oil became a good substitute for 
bread, which was then a rarity, the 
nearest mill being thirty miles distant. 
John Davidson, when he first settled on 
Whiteoak, had to buy corn and pack it 
as far as twenty miles. On one occasion 
he could find no corn nearer than the 
Cherry fork of Brushcreek, in Adams 
county, which he brought home, then 
he mounted two of his sons, Col. Wm. 
Davidson being one of them, with it on 
pack-horses and sent them to the mills 
at the falls of Paint to have it ground. 
When the boys reached the mill they 
found they could not get grinding under 
three days. So they returned, and Mr. 
Davidson went for the meal himself, 
making the whole distanee traveled to 
get the corn and meal 160 miles. 

Another great difficulty experienced 
by all settlers in Southern Ohio at that 
day, and for many years after, was to 
rocure salt, which sold enormously 
igh — at the rate of four dollars for fifty 
pounds. In backwoods currency ft 
would require four buckskins, a large 
bear skin, or sixteen coon skins to pay 
for it. Often it could not be procured 
at any price, and the only mode by 
which the settlers could obtain it was by 
packing kettles on horses to the Scioto 
Salt Lick, and boiling the salt water 
themselves, otherwise they had to dis- 
pense with it entirely. In such cases 
they used strong hickory ashes to cure 
their meat. 

The opening spring found the Finleys 
and their neighbors in good spirits, and 
the summer’s work was entered upon 
under rather more favorable circumstan- 
ces than was that of the preceding vear 
by James B. They had procured plows 
sufficient for their wants, and also some 
other implements of agriculture. An 
abundant crop of corn in the fall re- 
warded their toil. The following winter 
was extremely severe, and the bears all 
holed up in the large poplar trees which 
abounded in that vicinity, so that this 
very important source of winter and 
summer supplies was almost out of the 
question. The Finleys, however, were 
bold and persevering hunters, and after 
considerable search they discovered a 
tree in which they supposed a bear was 
holed, They and the Davidsons cut the 



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A HJ STORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



tree, and sure enough there was the 
bear, which they killed. They contin- 
ued searching the timber and cutting 
trees till in the course of a week they 
found and killed eleven bears, four of 
them old ones. The largest ©ne weighed 
over four hundred pounds. Thus sup- 
plied, the winter passed quite pleasant- 
ly. They spun and wove their own flax 
for shirting, etc., and dressed skins for 
moccasins, breeches and hunting shirts, 
and had to pay tribute to no Caesar. 
They had no musters, no courts, no road 
working, no tax collector, no squires, 
constables, doctors or lawyers. Their 
social life was governed by the law of 
kindness, and if a quarrel did occur the 
parties interested fought it out fist and 
skull, and made friends when their 
wounds healed. It was not often that 
they had preaching — the Finleys not at 
that time being in the church— but if a 
traveling minister did stop and preach 
all went to hear him. If the preaching 
was on a week day the men would go in 
their hunting-shirts, with their guns ; 
if on Sunday, the guns were left at 
home, but the belt and knife were never 
forgotten. 

The next fall several of the settlers, 
urged by their wives, went to a swamp 
at a considerable distance from the set- 
tlement to gather cat-tails to make beds, 
the leaf beds being about worn out. 
They had not gone many miles toward 
the swamp when their dogs started up a 
bear, which soon treed. It remained 
there only a short time, however, before 
it let go and came down, when a fright- 
ful fight ensued. One of the Finleys 
sprang from his horse and ran in to 
help the dogs, and forgetting in his ex- 
citement to cock his gun, placed the 
muzzle against the bear and pulled the 
trigger, but it would not fire ; so he 
threw it down, and taking his tomahawk 
was about to strike, when the bear 
broke loose from the dogs. They soon 
caught him again, and this time, being 
greatly enraged, it was in the act of 
killing one of the dogs, when one of the 
hunters reached the ground with noth- 
ing but his knife. He rushed in and 
thrust his knife in the side of the bear. 
At this it released the dog and caught 
the hunter by the leg. In his efforts to 
relieve himself he was thrown upon his 
back. The bear then made a vigorous 
attack upon the fallen hunter. It was a 
frightful situation ; but the dogs, true as 
steel, though badly Wounded, rushed to 
the rescue and succeeded' in releasing 
the hunter, who regained his feet, in- 
finitely worse scared than hurt, and soon 
dispatched the enemy. They skinned 
the bear, and selected the choice parts 



to take along for supper that night, as 
they expected to camp out. In the 
course of the ride they shot a fine buck, 
which they dressed .and hung up out of 
the reach of wolves. They also left 
their bear meat at the same place, in- 
tending to return and camp there. They 
gathered their bags full of cat tails, ana 
started about sundown to the camping 
ground. On their way back they killed 
another bear, and having arrived at the 
ground and built a fire, they feasted on 
the deer, and in the morning breakfast- 
ed on the bear’s feet, which had been 
roasting in the ashes all night. This is 
regarded by old hunters as a great deli- 
cacy. Some, however, prefer a roasted 
bear’s tail, and others the marrow from 
the joint of a buffalo. 

James B. Finley says that in order to 
repair a pecuniary loss sustained by go- 
ing security for a friend at Chillicotlie, 
he spent a whole winter hunting on 
Whiteoak, most of which time he lay 
out at night before his camp-fire, wrap- 
ped in skins. He slew a large number 
of bears, selling the skins in the spring 
at from three to seven dollars eaqh. 

In the fall of 1800 Thomas McCoy em- 
igrated, with his wife and child'on a 
pack-horse and he on foot, rifle on 
shoulder, from Bourbon county, Ky., 
to the Cherry fork of Brushcreek. Ear- 
ly the next spring he moved to the west 
fork of Brushcreek and built a cabin and 
settled down on the farm now owned by 
the heirs of John Haigh, near the site 
of the present town of Belfast, then in 
Adams county. There were at that 
time no inhabitants in that vicinity 
nearer than the settlement oh Flat Run, 
which consisted of George Campbell, x 
Stephen Clark, Philip Noland, Levin' 
Wheeler and William Paris and their 
families. This settlement had been 
made some two or three years. Stephen 
Clark was the first settler on Fiat Run. 
Mr. McCoy, who is now a very old man, 
says : “In those days in order to build 
a log cabin, we had to collect help from 
five or six miles around and could get 
but few hands at that. Often our 
women would turn out and assist us in« 
rolling and raising our cabins. But I 
can say that we enjoyed ourselves with 
our hard labor and humble fare, al- 
though de Drived of many of the neces- 
saries of life. I had to go twenty-seven 
miles for two bushels of corn and pay 
three shillings and six-pence per bushel. 
This was the spring after I settled on the 
west fork of Brush .Creek. . The wolves 
were so bad that neither sheep nor hogs 
could be raised. Game was, however, 
abundant and the settlers could always 
rely upon tfcfit- for megt,” 



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CHAPTER XV. 



A SETTLEMENT IS MADE ON ROOKY FORK, AND “SMOKY ROW” IS LAID OUT— 
JOHN PORTER’S GRIST MILL— POPE CUTS HIS WHEAT— DEATH OF THOMAS 
BEALS— ELIJAH KIRKPATRICK, LEWIS SUMMERS, GEORGE ROW, JOSEPH 
MEYERS, ISAAC LAMAN AND GEORGE CALEY COME TO NEW MARKET— 
ADAM LANCE, GEORGE FENDER AND ISAIAH ROBERTS JOIN THE FINLEYS 
ON WHITEOAK— THE VAN METERS SETTLE ON THE EAST FORK— ROBERT 
AND TARY TEMPLIN SETTLE ON LITTLE ROCKY FORK, AND SIMON SHOE- 
MAKER, FREDERICK BROUCHER AND TIMOTHY MARSHQN LOCATE AT SINK- 
ING SPRINGS— ADAM MEDSKER AND ROBERT BRANSON ARE BURIED AT 
NEW MARKET— BENJAMIN CARR, SAMUEL BUTLER, EVAN EVANS, EDWARD 
WRIGHT AND WILLIAM LUPTON SETTLE ABOUT LEESBURG — LUPTON 
BUILDS THE FIRST SAW MILL AND JAMES HOWARD THE FIRST CORN MILL 
IN THAT NEIGHBORHOOD— TI1E FRIENDS ERECT A MEETING HOUSE, WHILE 
MRS. BALLARD IS THE FIRST TO BE BURIED IN THE GRAVEYARD. 



Late in November, 1799, one Mareshah 
Llewellyn pitched his tent on the banks 
of . the Rocky Fork, two miles south of 
wherp Hillsborough now stands. He 
had set out from the pine hills, near the 
Catawba River, North Carolina, early in 
the preceding March for the Northwest- 
ern Territory with the double purpose 
of finding more productive land and bet- 
. ter hunting grounds. Llewellyn was of 
’ Welsh origin, his ancestors having emi- 
grated to America during the time of 
Charles II, and gradually as their wild 
and roving inclination predominated in 
any of the lineal descendants, the family 
name worked itself back from the shores 
of the Chesapeake into the almost desert 
of sands, swamps and pines which char- 
acterizes a large part of the “old North 
State.” The inhabitants of this region 
are, or rather were, at the time of which 
we speak, sixty years ago, very poor and 
as a general thing depended much upon 
hunting in the mountains bordering 
Eastern Tennessee. They, however, re- 
tained many of the follies which their 
ancestors had brought with them from 
the old country, not the least of which 
was that of family pride. 

Llewellyn was ayQung man of twenty - 
. three or four, stout, hearty and not bad 
looking for the region in which he had 
the fortune to grow, but all these good 
qualities could not overcome the deep 
seated prejudice of old George Smith, 
whose daughter Peggy he hoped to have 
peaceful permission to marry. Smith 
was an Englishman and despised the 
Welsh and constantly swore he would 
shoot his daughter’s suitor if he ever 
caught him in the vicinity of his cabin. 
The very natural result of all this was 

( 02 ) 



that Peggy determined to do as she 
pleased in the trifle of marrying. So 
she and the Welshman stole a march on 
the old man while he was attending as a 
witness at Rutherford Court House, and 
packing their worldly goods on a pretty 
stout old horse, which Mareshah hap- 
pened to buy on a long credit, they set 
off one bright moonlight night for Ten- 
nessee. After two weeks pretty brisk 
traveling they reached Elizabethtown, 
on the head waters of the Holston, 
where they were legally married. From 
this place they pushed on to Kentucky, 
camping out of course at night. Lle- 
wellyn did some successful hunting as 
he passed along, frequently stopping 
two or three weeks at a good point for 
that purpose, and thus supplied the 
wants of himself and wife. The skins 
he saved for market, which, by the time 
he reached Boonville, on the Kentucky 
River, had accumulated to a pretty good 
horse load. So he and his wife of course 
had to walk. They spent some time at 
Boonville, where he exchanged his bear 
and deer skins for some necessaries, not 
the least of which was a strong and large 
iron handmill for grinding corn. Again 
they set out for the North, but by the 
time they reached the Blue Licks the 
horse’s back had become very sore and 
the weather so excessively warm, that 
they, as well as the horse, were about 
tired out, so they stopped and took em- 
loyment with some men who were 
oiling salt at the lacks. They continued 
thus employed until the.first.of October, 
when they again bundled up, adding a 
small sack of salt to the saddle, and start- 
ed North, crossing the river at Lime- 
stone. After a few days travel they 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY ,. OHIO. 63 

stopped, struck a camp and Llewellyn Market by a jolly set of Irishmen as 
took a two weeks* hunt. Not meeting ever collected together this side of their 
the success, however, he had anticipa- native Island. Their names were Alex^ 
ted, he determined to move further to ander Fullerton, John Porter, Samuel 
the North, as there were some settlers McQuitty, William Ray, William and 
scattered at intervals of ei^ht and ten James Boyd, James Farrier, Hector 
miles in the region in which he then Murphy and Alexander Carrington, 
was. They passed on, looking out more “A little stream” — in the language of a 
for hunting than farming grounds, until gentleman of New Market, who furnish- 
they reached the banks of Buckrun, ed this information — “bearing the class- 
named for the great quantity of deer ic name of Smoky Row— in the memory 
which early herded in the region of a cherished locality in sweet Ireland 
through which it flows, where tney — wended lazily through the lane of 
again stopped for some weeks. His sue- John Porter, who was moved to profit 
cess was pretty satisfactory here, but he, thereby. John, in the course of a few 
one day, discovered the smoke of a cabin years, set about building thereon a grist 
in his range on Flatrun and concluded mill of most singular construction and 
that the locality was rather too hamper- when it was completed greatly rejoiced 
ed for good winter hunting. So he pull- thereat; and as he viewed its zigaag 
ed up stakes and pushed out farther to walls and peculiar adaption to . the object 
the northward and did not halt, except for which it was designed, Nebuchad- 
for rest at night, till he arrived at the nezzar, when viewing his capital and 
Rocky Fork. This region seemed to exclaiming, ‘Is this great Babylon which . 
promise freedom from interruption, as I have built,* could not have felt a 
well as good hunting, and he determined greater swell of pride. A thunder gust 
to stop and construct a camp for winter, was seen forming itself in the West, 
He accordingly selected a site on the affording a prospect of speedily trying 
sunny side of a thickly wooded hill, the capacity of the mill for business. A 
near a good spring, and put up a half sack of corn was dashed into the hopper 
faced camp of poles ; fixed up the spring —a jug of whisky worthy the occasion 
with a bark spout, and settled down for was speedily procured and all things 
the winter. This was the first settle- made ready — when the winds blew and 
ment made on the Rocky Fork and was the rain descended and the flood came 
on the west side of the present road of such unusual height, that at one mad 
leading to Hillsboroucrh, known as the rush the dam, the mill, the race and all 
old West Union road, about three hun- were swept. John hastily snatching up 
dred yards north of the creek. In the the jug and leaping from the floating 
spring Llewellyn cleared out a small wreck to the bank, waved high his jujg 
com patch south of his house and raised in defiance of the storm and mingled his 
corn, pumpkins, Ac. During the sum- shout and huzza with the roar of the 
mer, having concluded to stay awhile thunder and the flood. Mr. John Port- 
longer at this place, he went to work er was not, however, the man to quail 
and built a cabin. In the fall he gath- before adversity, so he rallied his ener- 
ered his corn and ground meal on his gies and built a horse mill, which he 
hand mill for bread, which was a great kept in good repair till the year 1812, 
luxury, being the first they had tasted when he volunteered to fight the Brit- 
since they left Kentucky. In the course ish and lost his life at the battle of 
of the next two years Win. Dougherty, Brownstown.** 

James Smith, Job Smith, Robert Bran 1 In the spring of 1801 Elijah Kirkpat- 
son, George Weaver and George Caw rick moved from Chillicothe and settled 
settled in the neighborhood of Llew- with his family on Smoky Row. He 
ellyn, who still continued to hunt and was the first collector of taxes in High- 
grind corn on his hand mill for the new land county. Lewis Summers moved 
settlers. Robert Branson died in the into New Market from Pennsylvania 
summer of 1801. In the course of a few early in the same spring, also George 
years, however, he grew weary of the Row and Joseph Myers. No other per- 
mill business and as game had become sons moved during the summer. . In the 
rather scarce, he determined to move fall Isaac Laman and his family moved 
farther away from the settlement, and out from Virginia and settled in the 
accordingly left. The remains of his town, also George Caley. Nobody died 
house stood until within a few years, in the town up to this time and there 
but it, together with the cabins and im- was no serious sickness. The first bury- 
provements of his neighbors, has entire- ings at the New Market grave yard were 
Iy disappeared. Adam Medsker, who had recently 

In the fall of 1800 a settlement was moved into the neighborhood, and 
formed three or four miles south of New’ Robert Branson, from the Rocky Fork, 



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A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



This was in the summer of 1801. Old 
Robert Finley was the first preacher in 
New Market and doubtless the first who 
preached within the present boundaries 
of Highland county. The preaching 
was in the woods. During the year 
1801-2, Rev. Henry Smith, a Methodist 
preacher irom Virginia, occasionally 
preached in New Market. 

The same fall Adam Lance and George 
Fender moved from Virginia and settled 
in the neighborhood of the Davidsons 
and Finleys on Whiteoak, and Isaiah 
Roberts moved up from Chillicothe the 
next fall and settled on Whiteoak on 
the farm bn which his son Isaiah now 
resides ; Jame3 McConnel also came up 
from the same place the same fall and 
settled in the same neighborhood, and 
two years afterwards came Joseph 
Davidson. 

Joseph VanMeter and Isaac Miller 
came from Mill Creek, Fleming county, 
Kentucky, and settled on the East Fork 
of the Little Miami in the spring of 1801. 
Mr. VanMeter, Joseph’s father, and 
Isaac’s guardian, gave each of them a 
hundred acres of land, axes, hoes, plows, 
and enough corn meal to last them dur- 
ing the summer. Meat he refused, say- 
ing they might hunt for that in the 
woods. Accidentally they lost one of the 
hoes on the way, so after they had put in 
their Crop of corn and it had grown suffi- 
ciently to require hoeing, they were at 
great loss for another hoe, it never oc- 
curring to them that one could plow and 
the other follow him with a hoe. They 
saw no way of working their corn but 
for both to’ plow at the same time till 
that part was done and then both go to 
work with the hoes. They deliberated 
over the difficulty and finally came to 
the conclusion that they could not do 
without another hoe. The nearest set- 
tlement was New Market, fourteen 
miles. So Isaac agreed to go there and 
try to borrow a hoe. Accordingly he 
shouldered his rifle one afternoon and 
struck out through the woods for New 
Market, where he arrived in good time, 
and fortunately succeeded in borrowing 
a hoe of John Eversol, on the promise 
that if it was damaged in any way it was 
to be paid for. The young pioneers had 
a hard time the first summer. Neither 
were very successful in hunting and 
sometimes they almost starved, having 
nothing for days together to eat but a 
piece of com bread, washed down with 
a gourd of water. The Indians were all 
around them and had plenty of venison 
and other game to sell them, but they 
had nothing to buy with. 

Robert and Tary Templin came up 
from Chillicothe in the spring of 1801, 



and made improvements on lands which 
they had purchased of Henry Massie. 
Robert settled on a branch of tne Rocky 
Fork, known at present as Templin’s or 
Medsker’s Run, and Tary on the Little 
Rocky Fork on the place recently owned 
by Bennett Creed. They were both at that 
time unmarried. They were among the 
first settlers of Chillicothe, haying gone 
in the company which went with Gen. 
Massie in the spring of 1796 to locate 
Chillicothe and make the settlement in 
the vicinity at Station Prairie. 

In the civil arrangements of Ross 
county, Paxton township, in which 
Bainbridge now is, was laid off in the 
winter of 1800. Geographically its 
boundaries embraced nearly all of what 
is now the country west of Scioto town- 
ship, extending north to the vicinity of 
Chillicothe, thence extending west over 
what is now Ross, Fayette and Highland 
counties. The place of holding the 
elections, musters, &c., for this great old 
township was at the house of Christian 
Platter, one mile east of where Bain- 
bridge now stands. 

The settlement at Sinking Spring did 
not receive any additions until 1800, 
when Simon Shoemaker, sr., came with 
his family from Virginia and settled in 
the neighborhood. During the four 
preceding years Frederick Broucher 
had been engaged slowly in clearing 
out a small farm and building and pre- 
paring his home for the accommodation 
of the travel, which began to be con- 
siderable along the trace on which he 
had located. His house was the first 
tavern out of Chillicothe on the trace. 

Timothy Marshon cared nothing for 
the elegancies of life, and but little for 
the comforts. So he was contented to 
inhabit the little cabin built by Wilcox- 
on, or rather his wife and children in- 
habited it, for he was most of the time 
in the woods hunting. He therefore 
had done little or nothing towards mak- 
ing an improvement, depending solely 
for a substance on the bear, deer, &c., 
which abounded in the surrounding 
hills. 

During the winter of 1801 George 
Caley and Peter Hoop set out from New 
Market for a “good hunt.” They travel- 
ed ail over the country which is now 
occupied by the town of Hillsborough 
and the surrounding farms, but could 
find nothing. After w r andering about 
for a long time in search of game, they 
became very much fatigued and hungry, 
and to make their miseries complete, 
they discovered they were lost. They 
continued, however, to travel on, and 
finally when hopeless and almost fam- 
ished, they joyfully discovered just at 



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A II IS f OR Y OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



Nightfall the cabin of Tary Templin', 
where they were kindly received and 
cared for by that most worthy man. 

When N. Pope’s field of wheat ripen- 
ed * he found it necessary to send off, 
not only for. hands to cut it, but the re- 
quest thht they would bring with them 
sickles, as there were none in his neigh- 
borhood. Accordingly, he dispatched 
two of his sons with orders to go down 
Paint until they got the promise of a 
sufficient number of hands and a keg of 
whisky. The hands arrived in force* 
and pitched into the little field and soon 
cut it down. They then went to work 
and gathered it all to one point, made a 
temporary threshing floor, and with 
flails made of young hickories, thresh- 
ed it all out and cleaned it before night. 
Some of them then went hunting, and 
others out to cut a bee tree in the neigh- 
borhood. At night they had a 
feast of venison, honey, whisky, &c. 
This was the first harvesting done in 
Highland. 

liardins Creek was a favorite range 
for bears about 1801-2. Samuel Pope 
killed three bears on this stream in one 
day. In the fall of 1802, William Pope, 
while ranging through these woods 
with gun and dogs, started up a very 
large bear, which he shot at and wound- 
ed. It soon got into a fight with the 
dogs. He loaded his gun as quick as 
possible, by which time the bear had 
caught and was killing one of his dogs. 
He rushed up to the bear in hopes to 
rescue his dog, and put the muzzle of 
the gun against it to shoot it whilst it 
held the dog in its deadly embrace. 
The gun missed fire, at which the bear 
released the dog and pitched at the 
hunter. He gave back a step or two, 
in doing which he fell over a log back- 
wards. The bear caught him by the 
heel which stuck up over the log. The 
dogs now rushed to the rescue of their 
master, and seized the bear in the rear, 
which was thus forced to release its 
hold on the hunter’s foot, who raised 
and joined in with the dogs, and finally 
killed it by repeated and well directed 
blows with his tomahawk. It was with 
the greatest difficulty he got to the 
camp, where he lay three weeks with 
his foot swung up to a sapling. He 
was badly wounded, arid left the bear 
lying where he had killed it. 



The first road cut from the Falls of 
Paint to the settlement on Lees Creek 
was cut by Pope and Walters for the ac- 
commodation of their friends who were 
moving out from Quaker Bottom, after 
which the neighborhood began to settle 
pretty rapidly. Daniel, John and Jacob 
Beals* sons of old Thomas Beals, came 
with their widowed mother* and were 
the first to communicate the sad intel- 
ligence of the death of the venerable 
and loved Thomas, the preacher* 
which happened on their way out* 
and was caused from a hurt received 
by his horse running under a stooping 
tree. He died in a few hours after- 
wards in the W'oods on the banks of 
Salt Creek. His sons and others who 
were with him found it utterly im* 
possible to get plank or any material 
out of which to make a coffin, so they 
went to w’ork and cut down a walnut 
tree and made a trough, which they 
covered with a slab. Thus prepared, 
they performed the sad rites, and the 
remains of the pure and good man 
were left to repose amid the profound ' 
solitudes of the unbroken forests. The 
Friends’ meeting of Fairfield, in this 
county, have recently sent down a 
committee for the purpose ot enclosing 
the grave, which was done by erecting 
a permanent stone wall around it. f 
About this time, Benjamin Carr, father' 
of Hezekiah Carr, near Leesburg, 
Samuel Butler, father ot Nathan But- 
ler, Evan Evans and their families, 
moved from Virginia. Edward Wright 
came to the falls qf Paint from Tennes- 
see in 1801, w r here he took the fever 
and died. Shortly after his widow’, 
Hannah Wright, and her tw r o sons, 
William and Dillon, moved up to Haiv 
dins Creek. In 1803 William Lupton 
moved out from Virginia, and bought 
out N. Pope and built a saw mill on 
Lees Creek, in the course of the next 
two years. The first corn mill in that 
neighborhood was built by James 
Howard on Lees Creek. The first 
Friends’ meeting house in the present 
county of Highland was a log structure 
erected in 1803-4, on the ground now 
occupied by the brick meeting house 
near Leesburg, and Barshaba Lupton 
and a few r other old Friends’ were its 
founders. The first burial at that 
graveyard w r as a Mrs. Ballard, in 1804. 



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CHAPTER XVI. 



MICHAEL STROUP SURPRISES THE PEOPLE OF NEW MARKET, AND WITH WIL- 
LIAM FINLEY AND ROBERT BOYCE CUT A WAGON ROAD TO MAD RIVER- 
AFTER SUFFERING MANY PRIVATIONS, STROUP ENTER8 INTO PARTNERSHIP 
WITH GEORGE PARKINSON AND THEY MAKE WOOL HATS AT $18 PER 
DOZEN— ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR, BEING RELIEV- 
ED BY THE ADMISSION OF OHIO INTO THE UNION, RETURNS TO PENNSYL- 
VANIA, WHERE HE DIES IN POVERTY. 



Towards the close of a cloudy and 
rather raw day, late in the autumn of 
1801, an athletic young man of medium 
height, and dressed in the rough and 
simple style of the time, except that 
instead of a skin cap, an eighteen gal- 
lon copper kettle appeared on his head, 
entered the promising town of New 
Market by the trace from the east. 
He had a large bundle strapped on his 
back with buffalo tugs, and bore a 
smaller one under his left arm, while 
in his right hand he carried something 
which bore quite a resemblance to an 
Indian bow. This individual was 
Michael Stroup, just arriving from 
Chillicothe, with the view of establish- 
ing a hatter shop, and the kettle, which 
he had carried all the way on his head, 
was a hatter's kettle. The pack con- 
tained his tools, all except the hurl 
bow, which was in his hand, and a few 
pounds of wool for manufacturing 
wool hats. Such an oddly accoutered 
personage, treading the half-cleared 
streets of the village, attracted per- 
haps less attention at that day, than 
would a similar occurrence at the pres- 
ent, for the citizens were accustomed 
to the various modes which new-comers 
were compelled to adopt in moving 
from the old to the new settlements. 
However, Stroup cared little for any 
remarks that might be made, He was 
a go-ahead fellow, and speedily had 
his kettle set in a cabin, and soon the 
sound of his bow was heard preparing 
the wool for the fulling process. He 
worked on till he got through his small 
stock of material, colored his hats and 
finished oft a few, which sold readily, 
but the proceeds did not more than 
meet the expenses which he had already 
incurred, and being a prompt as well 
as an industrious and enterprising man, 
he first paid his debts, which left him 
without money to lay in new materials, 
unless he could sell more hats. This 
he readily could have done, but for 
want of trimmings to finish them. 
Just at this time a good opportunity 

( 66 ) 



seemed to open to make a little ready 
money, which he at once embraced. 

Simon Kenton had constructed a 
mill on Mad River, the other side of 
Springfield, and employed Robert 
Boyce, of New Market, to carry the 
stones from Maysville. Boyce reached 
New Market withoijt much difficulty, 
as there was then a passable road for a 
wagon, but from that place to Spring- 
field lay an unbroken wilderness, and 
of course a road had to be cut for the 
wagon the whole of the distance. 
Kenton had authorized Boyce to em- 
ploy hands to go before him and make 
the route passable, promising the 
money when the mill stones arrived. 
Stroup, Wm. Finley and George Caley 
offered their services and were employ- 
ed at one dollar per day. 

They set out about the middle of 
February, 1802, taking with them two 
large pones of corn bread and two 
flitches of bacon. No surveyor had 
been provided. So they struck Ken- 
ton's old track and followed it the en- 
tire way. A day or two after the par- 
ty started Caley got sick and had to 
turn back, leaving Stroup and Finley 
to do all the work, Boyce being fully 
employed with his wagon and team, 
which consisted of two horses and one 
oxen. 

The party camped out of course every 
night, and were fifteen days engaged 
in cutting the road, most of which 
time the weather was rough and cold. 
They had no time to hunt, and conse- 
quently were obliged to rely upon the 
pones and flitches for substance. On 
several occasions their supplies came 
near being materially reduced by the 
most unaccountable conduct of one of 
the oxen. In spite of everything they 
could do he would find the flitch and 
suck it. One night he got it and suck- 
ed it, till when it was discovered and 
pulled from his throat, it was the 
shape of a tit three feet long, the small 
end of which extended down his throat 
the full length of it. After this they 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



took the precaution jo throw the 
bacon on top of their camp at night, 
When within about twelve miles from 
Springfield the party came near freez- 
ing to death. They had traveled sever- 
al hours in the midst of an unusually 
severe storm of rain and snow, and 
were wet through and through. 
Night came on them in the midst of a 
prairie, and soon became so dark that 
they could not proceed. They took 
shelter under the wagon, and attempt- 
ed to strike tire, but lost their flint and 
all hopes witli it. It occurred, liow- 
ever, to Stroup that the mill stone 
might be sufficiently hard for a substi- 
tute. So he went to work as well as 
the numbness of his hands would per- 
mit, and after repeated efforts, finally 
succeeded in drawing a spark with his 
knife from one of the stones in the 
wagon, but before they could manage 
to gather fuel on the broad and half 
iced prairie, the three men had nearly 
perished. Their clothes were frozen 
on their bodies long before the fire was 
sufficient to thaw them. During the 
night one of the horses. broke loose and 
wandered off to escape the rigor of the 
storm in a distant grove. Boyce start- 
ed after it, and traveled several hours 
over the prairie at the imminent risk 
of freezing. In the morning they dis- 
covered that they had stopped the pre- 
vious night within a mile of a large 
Indian encampment, to which they im- 
mediately went to warm and cook 
'breakfast, When the party arrived at 
the mill, Kenton was not there, and 
they could get nothing to eat. So they 
set off in search of him. They found 
him at his cabin about four miles from 
the mill, but he neither had money to 
pay them for their hard services nor 
provisions to supply their immediate 
wants. In this state of affairs they 
started back and got a meal at Spring- 
field on credit of a hospitable log cabin 
tavern keeper, recently located at that 
place. From there they hurried back 
to New Market, where they arrived on 
the nineteenth day after they set out to 
cut the road, almost famished, and 
their clothes literally torn to pieces. 

Stroup was not a little vexed at the re- 
sult of nis efforts to raise money by road 
cutting, but in the true pioneer spirit he 
went to work and in a short time man- 
aged to get sufficient money to purchase 
trimmings for his stock of hats, and he 
soon forgot the eighteen days lost in the 
wilderness, which were, however, lost 
only to him and his companions, for the 
result of their labors Was a permanent 
road, important to this day as a public 
highway, under the title of the “Old 



Mad River road.” 

In the course of the spring of this year 
(1802) George Parkinson, a hatter to 
trade, having arrived at New Market 
from Pennsylvania, he and Stroup set 
about building a shop, which they suc- 
ceded in erecting of hued logs and cov- 
ering with lap-shingles. This was the 
first hued log house with a shingle roof 
built in the town of New Market. One 
Thomas Kincade, a carpenter, was the 
boss workman in the building of this 
shop. The two hatters kept bachelor’s 
hall and. of course, boarded their hands. 
The food was wild meat and corn bread 
made of meal pounded in a hominy 
mortar with the head of an iron wedge, 
and unsifted. One day at dinner, which 
consisted of corn dodger and water, it 
occurred to Kincade that a little whisky 
would be a valuable acquisition to their 
creature comforts. Accordingly a pint 
of this beverage was procured from Wis- 
hart’s tavern. A gill of this whisky was 
measured into the tin cups of the 
Messrs. Stroup, Parkinson, Kincade, and 
another hand, which gave such a zest 
and relish to the repast that Kincade 
declared, with joyous sincerity, that it 
was the best dinner he had ever eaten. 

The hatter shop was soon finished and 
ready for business. But here a difficul- 
ty arose as to wool. None of that im- 
portant article, now so abundant in 
Ohio, was then to be had nearer than 
Kentucky. Stroup was not the man, 
however, to be deterred or impeded by 
trifles, so he mounted a horse and start- 
ed South for wool. A sufficient supply 
of the most approved quality was not 
obtained till he reached Lexington, 
where he purchased one hundred 

ounds for one hundred dollars. This 

e sacked up and packed on his horse 
back to New Market. All things were 
now ready and the business of hat mak- 
ing commenced on a pretty extensive 
scale, and the new settlements were sup- 
plied with wool hats in considerable 
abundance. Maysville and Chillicothe 
furnished a certain market for all the 
surplus hats not demanded at the shop, 
and many a horse load of them was 
packed to these places from the New 
Market factory. Wool hats sold at that 
time at eighteen dollars per dozen, which 
high price was owing in part to the fact 
that logwood, said to be used for color- 
ing black, cost twenty-five cents per 
pound in the block. This fact was there 
well attested, it is said, by the number 
of maple . trees in the neighborhood 
stripped of their bark as high up as the 
arm of a man could reach. 

Mr. Stroup set out from Huntingdon, 
Pa., as a journeyman batter, and arrived 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO, 



at a settlement just formed on the banks 
of the Scioto, called Franklinton, in the 
spring of 1798. The inhabitants of that 
settlement had no corn for bread, the 
little they had planted the fall before 
having been destroyed by the frost. 
Stroup went with others to the Pee Pee 
bottoms to buy corn. They had to pay 
one dollar and a quarter per bushel for 
badly frost bitten Corn, which they 
boated in a perogue up to the settlement. 
They attempted to make meal of it by 
pounding it in a hominy block, but*it 
was so soft from the effects of the frost 
that it would only flatten— it would not 
sieve. They made it up into bread and 
when they put it to bake, went out to 
hoe corn. When they were gone the 
Indians would steal in and eat up the 
half baked bread. Stroup found this 
place very sickly and was induced to 
leave it, because there were but few to 
buy hats, and they were as a general 
thing too poor to pay for them. While 
he remained here he helped lay out the 
town of Springfield. At the age of 
seventeen he was out against the 
‘‘Whisky Boys,” and knew by sight and 
personally most of the officers, including 
Washington. He left Franklinton and 
went to Chillicothe where he remained 
some months, working at his trade, until 
he finally settled upon New Market as 
his future place of residence. The same 
year Anthony Stroup, his brother, came 
out and settled in New Market. 

The population of the Northwestern 
Territory had continued to spread out 
from the country between the Miamis, 
as well as the Military District, and the 
portion east of the Scioto to the Pennsyl- 
vania border became checkered with 
farms and abounded in indications of an 
industrious and thriving people. Dur- 
ing the winter of 1801, Congress passed 
an act dividing the Northwest Territory 
into two territories, the western oi which 
—Indiana Territory— to have a similar 
government to the east. 

On the 30th of April, 1802, an act pass- 
ed Congress authorizing the eastern di- 
vision of the Territory northwest of the 
river Ohio, to call a convention to frame 
a State Constitution, the western bound- 
ary of which new State was fixed at a 
line running due north from the mouth 
of the Great Miami. The act fixing the 
boundaries of the Territory authorized 
the people to assume such name for the 
State as they should think proper and 
settled the qualification of voters and 
apportioned the same. By this act, “all 
male citizens of the United States, who 
shall have arrived at full age, and resid- 
ed within the said Territory at least one 
year previous to the day of election, and 



shall have paid a Territorial tax,’* were 
authorized to choose one representative 
to the convention for each twelve hun- 
dred inhabitants, and were required to 
hold the election on the second Tues- 
day of October, and the convention 
was required to meet at Chillicothe on 
the first Monday of the succeeding No- 
vember. Accordingly, the people, anx- 
ious to assume the liigh functions of 
sovereignty, complied with the act and 
their representatives met regularly at 
the designated time and place and aiter 
a session of a little over twenty-five 
days reported the Constitution on 
which the State was admitted into the 
Union, without any ratification by the 
people. 

A few weeks before the admission of 
the State and the termination of the 
Territorial existence of the government 
Mr. Jefferson, then President of the 
United States, thought proper to re- 
move Gov. St. Clair on a charge of un- 
warrantable interference in the delib- 
erations of the convention. No other 
Governor was appointed. St. Clair was 
appointed by Washington and held the 
office about fourteen years. 

Arthur St. Clair was a Scotchman by 
birth, having been born in Edinborough 
in 1734. After receiving a classical 
education in one of the most celebrated 
institutions of his native country, he 
studied medicine; but having a taste 
for military pursuits, he sought and 
obtained a subaltern’s appointment 
and was with Wolf at the storming of 
Quebec. After the peace of 1763, he 
was assigned to the command of a fort 
in the State of Pennsylvania. He held 
several civil offices prior to the Revo- 
lutionary war, and w r hen that broke out 
he at once received the appointment of 
Colonel of Continentals. In August, 
1776, he was promoted to the rank of 
Brigadier and took an active part in 
the battles of Princeton and Trenton, 
Subsequently he was created by Con- 
gress a Major General, in which capac- 
ity he served with reputation until the 
close ot the war. He was chosen a 
member of the Continental Congress 
and elected by that body its President. 
Judge Burnet, who knew him well, 
says : “H e was plain and simple in his 
dress and equipage, open and frank in 
his manners, und accessahle to persons 
of every rank. He was unquestiona- 
bly a man of superior talents, of exten- 
sive information and great uprightness 
of purpose, as well as suavity of man- 
ners. His general course, though in 
the main correct, was in some respects 
injurious to his own popularity, but it 
was an honest result of an honest qxer. 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 69 



cise of bis own judgment.” 

Soon after he was removed from office 
he returned to his farm in Legonier 
Valley, in Pennsylvania, poor and des- 
titute of the means of subsistence, and 
unfortunately, too : much disabled by 
age and infirmity to embark in any 
kind of active business. While terri- 
torial Governor he had assumed the re- 
sponsibility for government and be- 
came personally liable for the purchase 
of a number of pack-horses and other 
articles necessary to fit out an expedi- 
tion against the Indians to an amount 
of near three thousand dollars, which 
he was compelled afterwards to pay, 
and having no use for the money at the 
time he did not present his claim to the 
government; and, after he was remov- 
ed from office he looked to that fund as 
his dependance for future subsistence, 
and under a full expectation of receiv- 
ing it he went to Washington City and 
presented his account to the proper 
officer of the Treasury. To his utter 
surprise and disappointment it was re- 
jected on the ground that it was barred 
by the Statute. Congress finally passed 
an act exempting his claim from the 
operation of the statute, but the Secre- 



tary still refused, claiming that it had 
been paid. 

After spending the best part of two 
sessions in useless efforts, subsisting on 
the bounty of his friends, he abandon- 
ed the pursuit in despair and returned 
to bis lonely and desolate home, where 
he lived several years in the most ab- 
ject poverty in the family of a widow- 
ed daughter as destitute as himself. 
At length Pennsylvania, his adopted 
State, from considerations of personal 
respect and gratitude for past services, 
as well as from a laudable feeling of 
State pride, settled an annuity on him 
of three hundred dollars, which was 
soon after raised to six hundred and 
fifty dollars. That act of beneficence 
gave to the gallant old soldier a com- 
fortable subsistance for the little rem- 
nant of his days which was then left. 
He lived, however, but a short time to 
enjoy this bounty. On the 31st of Au- 
gust, 1818, this venerable officer of the 
Revolution, after a long, brilliant and 
useful life, died of an injury occasioned 
by the running away of his horse, near 
Greensburgh, in the eighty-fourth year 
bf his age. 



■o 



CHAPTER XVII. 

JOHN GOSSETT ERECTS A GRIST MILL — SOMETHING ABOUT LEWIS GIBLER— 
BRUS1ICREEK CURRENCY — THE FIRST SETTLER IN UNION TOWNSHIP — 
THOMAS DICK SETTLES IN MARSHALL, ESTABLISHES A SCHOOL, AND 
FOUNDS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF THAT NEIGHBORHOOD— SINKING 
SPRINGS AND VICINITY RECEIVES ADDITIONAL INHABITANTS IN THE PER- 
SONS OF SIMON SHOEMAKER, JR., AND HIS BROTHERS PETER AND MARTIN, 
JOHN HATTER, JOHN FULK, GEORGE SUTER, JAMES WILLIAMS, JACOB 
ROADS, DAVID EVANS, JACOB FISHER, ABRAHAM BOYD,' PETER STULTZ, 
DR. JOHN CAPLINGER, CAPTAIN WILSON, HENRY COUNTRYMAN AND REV. 
BENJAMIN VAN PELT. 

In the spring of 1801 John Gossett was not only. a man of considerable 
completed and put in successful opera- scientific attainments, but is remembered 
tion a grist mill, the first built in the as remarkably amiable and honorable in 
present county of Highland. This mill all his intercourse with others. His 
was located on Whiteoak, two miles modesty and diffidence caused him to 
south of New Market, a short distance seek retirement— thus hiding his talents 
above where Sonner’s mill now stands, from public view. For his services in 
The mill house was a pretty good sized constructing his mill, he received one 
structure of hewn logs and clapboard hundred acres of land, on which he set- 
roof, sufficiently capacious for all the tied quietly down and spent the remain- 
business it was capable of doing. One der of his days in the peaceful and pleas- 
John Smith, a Scotchman, familiarly ant occupation of a farmer. Building 
known throughout the then sparcely even a small tub mill was not, in those 
populated settlement, as “Scotch days, a trifling undertaking. Workmen 
Johny,” was the mill wright. Smith were difficult to obtain ana much of tbe 



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indispensable machinery still more so. 
For this little pioneer mill all the irons 
had to be brought from Kentucky, while 
the necessary plank tor the fore-bay, 
chests, water-wheel, &c., had to be cut 
at great labor, with a whip saw, from the 
solid log. The mill stones were made 
by Mr. Gossett himself, out of two large 
boulders, which he was so fortunate as 
to discover in the neighborhood. He 
also did the necessary mason work him- 
self. Pretty nearly a year was employed 
in the completion of this most valuable 
and important improvement. When it 
was finished much and heart-felt were 
the rejoicings throughout the settlement. 
Almost from the very hour of its com- 
mencement had it been known by all 
the men, women and children that they 
were to have a mill, and its progress 
was marked with intense interest by the 
needy settlers for many miles around. 
Some there were who doubted and 
others that feared the success of the 
project, but when it was known that a 
mill was actually grinding corn within 
two miles of New Market and that the 
tedious journeys of the mill bov to thp 
falls of Paint were among the things of 
the past, a thrill of joy pervaded every 
heart and beamed from the countenance 
of each individual; and, as the good 
honest hearted pioneers, threading the 
forests adjacent to the banks of White- 
oak fifty-six years ago in pursuit of 
game, in search of the cows, returning 
from logrollings, or cabin raisings, saw 
the modest little mill house through the 
openings of the woods, they pointed to 
“our mill” with a feeling of pleasure 
and pride, which can not be appreciated 
at this day, but which then fully ex- 
pressed the value they attached to the 
first mill. 

About two years after the completion 
of this mill Lew,is Gibler, from Shenan- 
doah county, Virginia, moved into the 
neighborhood, in company with several 
other families from the same place, and 
bought Gossett out. Gibler at once en- 
tered on possession of the mill, and by his 
kind ana generous deportment acMed 
much to its value. One word as a trib- 
ute of respect to the memory of modest, 
unobtrusive worth, may not be out of 
place. When a stranger would apply 
for meal or flour, Gibler asked him if he 
had the money to pay for it. If answer- 
ed in the affirmative, he would tell him 
he could go and purchase elsewhere — 
that his surplus meal and flour was for 
the poor who had just come into the 
settlement and who, without money, 
might not be able to procure bread. 

John Gossett was a native of Pennsyl- 
vania apd emigrated at an early day 



from Redstone to Bourbon county, Ken- 
tucky, where he built himself a cabin 
and settled down. Whefl Wayne’s 
army moved West in ’94, Gossett en- 
gaged in transporting supplies to them 
at their encampment m the wilderness 
of the Northwest. After the treaty of 
peace he resumed his business of farm- 
ing and hunting in Kentucky, where he 
continued to reside till the autumn of 
’97, when he moved his family to the 
settlement at Chillicothe. He resided 
at that place two years, and during that 
time purchased land in the vicinity of 
New Market. The fever and ague con- 
tinued greatly to afflict new comers in 
the Scioto Valley, and compelled many 
of them to move away from the rich 
lands which they hadt at first bo much 
admired. Gossett was among these and 
started with his family to his lands on 
Wliiteoak, where he arrived in the fall 
of ’99. He put up a half faced camp, 
which continued the dwelling of his 
family for many years. Game was then 
of course abundant and the wolve9 ex- 
tremely ferocious, so much so that two 
calves which he bad brought with his 
two milch cows, haa to have a strong 
pen built for them immediately adjoin- 
ing the camp of the family. Even then 
the wolves managed to get at them, one 
of which they wounded badly in their 
efforts to get it out. After Gqssett sold 
out on Whiteoak he purchased land and 
settled on the road leading from New 
Market to the falls of Paint about two 
miles east of New Market, on which 
place he continued to reside during the 
remainder of his life. 

Some time in the spring 1803 Massie’s 
mill at the falls of Paint was washed en- 
tirely away by a flood. He did not at- 
tempt to rebuild it, but the following 
year bought out Jacob Smith on the op- 
posite side, who moved away. The next 
year, (1804) Massie laid out the town of 
Bainbridge, which he named in. honor of 
America’s great Naval hero, Commodore 
William Bainbridge. Soon after the 
town was laid off, Massie employed 
Jacob and John Rockhold, who settled 
at the falls of Paint two years previous, 
to build a hewed log house for a store 
room. This was the first house built on 
the town plat and was filled as soon as 
completed wfth a stock of goods belong- 
ing to Massie. From that time New 
Amsterdam rapidly declined and the 
site, once so big with promise, has long 
since been plowed up and cultivated as 
a cornfield. 

' During the summer and fall of 1802, 
there were several families who moved 
into the present township of Brush- 
creek. Among them were Simon Shoe- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO . 



maker, jr., and his brothers, Peter and 
Martin, from Virginia. Simon was in 
the war of 1812 and was taken prisoner 
at Hull’s surrender. The British com- 
mander after a time released him on his 
promise that he would go home and not 
fight them any more. He accordingly 
went home, but soon returned again to 
the army as a substitute. He was in no 
general action. The company he was in 
was, however, attacked several times by 
small bands of Indians and appears to 
have been always whipped. John Hat- 
ter, a Revolutionary soldier, came this 
year from Pennsylvania ana settled in 
Brushcreek township. John Fulk came 
with his family from Virginia to Brush- 
creek this .year. He was in the war of 
1812 and is now dead. (George Suter, 
James Williams, Jacob Roads, David 
Evans, George Cursewell, Jacob Fisher, 
Abraham Boyd, Peter Stultz, Dr. John 
Caplinger, Captain Wilson, the first 
Militia Captain in that township and 
afterwards a Major — was in the war of 
1812— and Captain John Roads, the sec- 
cond Captain in the township, also in 
the war of 1812, all moved into the 
township in 1802 from Virginia, and are 
all now dead. The same year came 
James Washburn, James Reed, Leonard 
Reed, Michael Snively and John Low- 
man from Pennsylvania. These settlers 
are also all dead. Low man settled east 
of Sinking Springs about three miles, on 
Sunfish Creek. 

Henry Countryman and his three sons, 
Martin, John and Henry, moved out 
from Rockingham, Virginia, in the 
spring of 1802 and settled in the vicinity 
of Sinking Spring. Martin built a 
cabin about three miles northwest of 
the Spring, with help brought from 
Manchester for that purpose. The 
Countrymans built the first water mill in 
the present township of Brushcreek in 
1803 ; it was a small affair and stood two 
and a half miles northwest of Sinking 
Spring, where Bobb’s mill now stands, 
on the East Fork of Brushcreek. Henry 
Countryman, sr., was a soldier of the 
Revolution. 

Rev. Benjamin VanPelt, a Methodiet 
minister from Virginia, was the first 
preacher who officiated in that capacity 
m the region about Sinking Spring, 
where he first preached in 1802, . 

The currency of Brushcreek in these 
early times was of an exceedingly simple 
and primitive character. The settlers 
had not then acquired the insatiable ap- 
petite for the dollar, which so distinctive- 
ly characterizes the people of the pres- 
ent day, and they therefore knew but 
few wants in that way and scarcely ever 
saw coin or heard it spoken of, except 



when an occasional traveler left a few. 
small pieces at the taverns on the Zanes- 
ville and Maysville road. Not much 
money could get into circulation in this 
way. So to supply their immediate 
wants they naturally adopted the most 
convenient facilitv the country afforded 
and made a circulating medium of pel- 
try, grindstones and ginseng ; thus ex- 
hibiting, in this important particular of 
modern times, a total indifference and 
complete independence of Government. 
The ‘.‘root of evil” never having taken 
root among them, the settlers built their 
cabins and made their little clearings in 
peace, free from annoyance of specula- 
tors, and plowed their field and gathered 
their corn, hunted bear and deer in the 
woods, fished in the creeks, gathered 
berries and nuts, and passed in harmony 
the bright summer days and the long 
winter evenings in the unstrained en- 
joyment of social life, utterly free from 
all the annoyances so characteristic of 
later times— they literally reposed be- 
neath theij own vine and fig tree, with 
none to disturb or make them airaid. 

The first settlement made within the 
bounds of the present township of 
Union in Highland county, was by a 
man named Adams, in 1802. He built a 
curious kind of cabin on Turtle Creek, 
on land afterwards owned by Robert 
McDaniel. The cabin had five corners, 
one of which was appropriated as a fire- 
place. It is not known where Adams 
came from nor where he went, when he 
left, which was within a year or two 
after he built his cabin. He was a sort 
of nondescript, possessed of little or no 
property, and apparently caring for 
none. Unsocial and solitary in his 
habits, he made the acquaintance of 
few or none of the scattering settlers 
then in the country, and depended al- 
most exclusively for subsistance on 
hunting. It is quite probable he dis- 
liked the rapid encroachments of the 
settlers on his hunting grounds and 
growing discontented and sulky, de- 
termined to move farther west. At any 
rate he packed his wife and two or three 
white headed children on a bit of an In- 
dian pony and shouldering his rifle, 
struck out into the pathless woods and 
was no more heard of in that region of 
country. 

There were two classes of persons who, 
in the early days of the Northwest, 
formed the vanguard of advancing civili- 
zation, both of whom disappeared at its 
approach. The first -was the regular In- 
dian fighter— the spy, trapper and hunt- 
er, who scorned any labor less noble 
than that which brought for reward the 
delicious meat of the buffalo and bear 



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M A HISTORY Or HIGHLANT) COUNTY. OHIO. 



and the rich peltries of the beaver and 
martin. They despised the effeminacy 
that erected a house for shelter and re- 
quired bread for subsistance. No sound 
of the axe, therefore, accompanied their 
wide and fearless range through the for- 
ests; and no traces of improvements 
marked the extent cf their explorations. 
The second partook somewhat of the 
nature of the first. Indian fighters they 
were of necessity, if not, as was most 
commonly the case with them, from 
choice. Hunters, they were compelled 
to be, or subsist without meat ; but they 
at the same time appreciated the value 
of bread and the comforts of a cabin 
with a wife in it Small clearings sur- 
rounded by pole and brush fences, with 
the little cabin in the midst evidenced 
the presence of this class of pioneers on 
the extreme frontier. They rarely, 
however, purchased the lands on which 
they settled or remained long enough to 
become the tenants of the real owners. 
Restless and roving in their natures, 
they soon pulled up and again sought 
their appropriate and peculiar sphere on 
the blending ground of civilization and 
barbarism, where they could but faintly 
hear 

“The tread of the Pioneers, of nations yet to 
be; 

The first low wash of waves where soon 
should. roll a human sea.'* 

To this class belonged Adams and 
many others of whom the world knows 
nothing, save a vague tradition that they 
made settlements at a day so early that 
the recollection of it has dimmed into a 
twilight scarcely one remove from total 
darkness. But their cabins and little 
fields remained, and persons vet live 
who have seen them and noted the 
places which have long since yielded up 
their first marks by the hand of man, 
and been forced to assume new features 
and form under the successive ways of 
culture and refinement, which more 
than half a century has rolled over 
them. 

Near the middle of January, 1802, 
Thomas Dick moved up from Chillicothe 
and built a cabin a short distance east of 
the present town of Marshall. He there 
settled down with his family and became 
a permanent resident. At this time the 
country around, with the exception of 
Major Franklin’s .cabin and clearing, 
was a wilderness and the nearest mill 
and smithshop were at the falls of Paint. 
Mr. Dick was one of the founders of the 
first Presbyterian Church in this region 
of country, of which he was a worthy 
member until his death a few years ago. 
The first school taught in the present 
township of Marshall was taught by Mr. 



Dick in his own house in the winter of 
1802. The branches taught were spell- 
ing, reading arid perhaps writing. 

Mr. Dick, though possessed of a vigor- 
)us and cultivated mind, seemed indif- 
ferent to the honors within the power 
of society to confer, and his retiring and 
modest nature limited to a small circle 
of immediate friends the interesting 
story of his life. Few, indeed, there are 
at the present day who know that there 
was a man of that name, a quiet, but 
useful and exemplary citizen of our 
country for more than forty years, who* 
faithfully discharged all the duties of a 
Christian, and the father of a large and 
worthy family, whose history was so full 
of the vicissitudes and dangers incident 
to frontier life as his. 

He was born and educated at Belfast, 
Antrum county^ Ireland. Immediately 
on the completion of his education he 
determined to seek his fortune in Amer- 
ica, and having some friends in Phila- 
delphia lie sailed for that place, where 
he arrived in safety after a long voyage. 
He remained there some time, but find- 
ing it difficult to get employment to suit 
him, he concluded to seek it in the 
country. He was a school master by 
profession and preferred a situation as 
such. In pursuit of this object he jour- 
neyed on, intending to try his fortune 
in Pittsburg, then a frontier town of the 
State, though a place of some note and 
business. About the first of June, 1789, 
when nature wore her most fascinating 
dress, he crossed the Laurel Hill and en- 
tered the secluded and beautiful district 
of country lying between that mountain 
and Chestnut Ridge, known as Legonier 
Valley. The vicinity of this country to 
the old French post, Duquesne, "had 
made it an object of interest to the bold 
and sagacious adventurers of that nation 
and they planted a colony of their coun- 
trymen there at an early day. But their 
splendid schemes of empire soon failing 
they were driven to the north and very 
nearly all that now remains to tell of 
tbeir ambitious projects in Western 
Pennsylvania is the name of this pretty 
little valley. He was so charmed with 
the scenery, as he leisurely surveyed it 
from a spur of the mountain — the neat 
cottages of the farmers with their clust- 
ering roses and other summer flowers, 
the grain fields promising an abundant 
harvest, and the grazing herds — he 
thought indeed here ^was the valley of 
peace — the realization of his early dream 
— and here he would make his home in 
the sweet and quiet retreat thus gently 
embosomed amid the grandeur of the 
surrounding mountains. Towards the 
close of the day he arrived at one of the 



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A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNT?, OHIO. 73 



inftsi substantial looking farm houses 
and was kindly received bv the inmates. 
In the morning he made inown his oc- 
cupation and desire for employment. 
The neighborhood wad not large but his 
new friends interested themselves in the 
matter and in the course of a few weeks 
a small school, composed of the little 
folks who were too young for farm and 
house work, was made up for him. He 
continued to teach until fall, amusing 
himself mornings, evenings and Satur- 
days rambling among the enchanting 
scenery of the valley and adjacent 
mountains. His school was continued 
during the winter and became more 
profitable as the numbers of his scholars 
at that season was greatly increased. 
Satisfied and contented with his location 
he felt that with one of the rosy-cheek- 
ed girls of the valley, who had strongly 
attracted him, he could settle down for 
life in the pursuit of his peaceful voca- 
tion. Accordingly in the course of the 
following year he was married, and soon 
after established himself in a home of 
his own, with the prospect for hjinself 
and companion of permanency as well 
as peace and happiness. 

About a montn after this (March 18th, 
1791,) having just returned from a busi- 
ness visit to Pittsburg, he was seated at 
his dinner table in company with his 
wife and a young man of the neighbor- 
hood who had called to see him on busi- 
ness, when his house was suddenly and 
without previous warning, surrounded 
by Indians. No danger had been antic- 
ipated in the valley, it being some fifty 
miles from the frontier, although the in- 
habitants were aware oi the hostility of 
the savages and the many deadly at- 
tacks recently made by them in neigh- 
borhoods less protected than theirs. 
Thfe firpt intimation Mr. Dick, therefore, 
had of the presence of the Indians was 
the discharge of their rifles through the 
open door, by which the young man 
who sat with them at the table was kill- 
ed, and the next consciousness he had 
afterwards, was standing in a remote 
corner of the room an xndian painted 
and dressed in full costump, about to 
strike him with a tomahawk. Tor some 
reason not apparent to Dick, the Indian 
desisted at the critical moment and 
seizing him by the arms bound them be- 
fore he was aware of his purpose and 
led him out of the house. As soon as 
he was out, he discovered much to his 
relief, that Mrs. Dick was not injured, 
blit like himself only a prisoner. The 
Indians were a party belonging to the 
Seneca tribe. They hurried away rapid- 
ly with their prisoners, leaving the 
house open and all the property undis- 



turbed, and taking a direct route to the 
northwest traveled night and day 
through the most secluded and unfre- 
quented parts of the country till they 
reached the Ohio River. At this point, 
which was a considerable distance above 
Wheeling, they met other predatory 
bands of their tribe with prisoners and 
plunder. They raised from the mouth 
of a small creek their canoes which they 
had sunk when they crossed before, ana 
were all soon on the opposite side. 
Here they called a halt and rested. 
They did not, however, feel safe so near 
the settlements and soon resumed their 
march to their towns on the Sandusky, 
where they arrived after a long and fa- 
tiguing j ouraey to their prisoners. Mrs. 
Dick was wearied out and frequently 
unable to travel, though the Indians 
treated her quite as well as coiild be ex- 
pected, but the exposure to wet and 
the cold of early spring, to which the 
sons of the forest were accustomed, 
were too hard for her delicate constitu- 
tion, so that by the time they reached 
Seneca town, near where the town of 
Tiffin now stands, she was seriously ill. 
Rest and the kind attention of her hus- 
band and some of the squaws, however, 
in time restored her to comparative 
health, but the exposure to which she 
had been subjected since her captivity 
brought on a violent attack of rheuma- 
tism, which continued obstinately to re- 
sist all modes of treatment known to 
the Indians. 

On their way out after they had 
crossed the Ohio, the Indians made 
several ineffectual efforts to make Mr. 
Dick carry part of their plunder, but he 
always refused, and when a load was 
placed upon his back would throw it 
off as soon as possible and walk on 
leaving it behind. He was a very stout, 
athletic man, but he was determined 
not to disgrace himself by working for 
Indians. At their towns they set him 
to work in the corn field with the 
squaws, but he would not work. 

The Indians knew Dick was stout 
and some of them were anxious to. test 
his manhood. But whenever one of 
them took hold oOum he always threw 
him down quite roughly and walked 
off. His object being to show them 
that he was strong and could defend 
himself if assailed, and that he did not 
feel inclined to degrade himself by 
sporting on terms of equality with 
savages. Such conduct tended gener- 
ally to lower their estimate of their 
prisoner and they consigned him to the 
discipline of the squaws, deeming him 
unworthy of the privileges and position 
of a warrior. On one occasion, a num- 



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74 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 



ber of Indians and squaws, together 
with several prisoners, had been hoeing 
com. They had divided the patch ana 
run a race. The party with which 
Dick was, beat, and started in Indian 
tile over to help the others out. Dick 
was next to the hindmost Indian, who 
was a lazy, trifling fellow, and very 
unpopular with the others. This fel- 
low. without any provocation, struck 
Dick a pretty severe blow on tne back 
of the head which staggered him. He, 
however, rallied and turned on the In- 
dian and knocked him down. The 
other Indians ^ere much pleased at 
this, and were loud in their applause, 
saying Good warrior! good warrior! to 
him, and laughing greatly at the fallen 
combatant. On another occasion, a 
large number were racing and amusing 
themselves on a beautiful level bluff, 
overlooking the river which flowed 
many feet below. This same lazy In- 
dian, whom Dick had knocked down a 
few days before, again exhibited signs 
of an inclination to play another rough 
trick on him. Dick was determined 
not to be taken by surprise this time, 
so he watched an opportunity and 
seizing the fellow, threw him over the 
bluff into the river. This greatly 
amused the other Indians ana com- 
pletely established a favorable reputa- 
tion for him. But the unfortunate In- 
dian became at once a deadly enemy, 
and watched an opportunity to kill 
him. This, the other Indians soon be- 
came aware of, and they thought best 
to sell him, as he would neither work 
nor hunt. So they sold him to a trader 
who carried him to Detroit, where the 
English commander of that fort pur- 
chased and released him. Dick was an 
excellent penman, and soon became 
the secretary of the commander, by 
which service he was able to save some 
money. He was, however, of course, 
very anxious about his afflicted arid 
captive wife. He had not been permit- 
ted to see her before he left the Seneca 
towns, but he knew that in her helpless 
condition, she had no hopes of escape, 
and there was no probability of her 
rescue by her friends in Pennsylvania. 
So he set about devising some plan to 
effect it himself. He knew it would 
not do for him to go back to the towns 
with the view of carrying her off. He, 
therefore, employed a Chippewa Indian 
to go and steal her and bring her to 
him at Detroit. The Indian would not 
undertake it unless he was paid twenty 
gallons of rum in advance. Dick pur- 
chased the rum and gave it to the 
Chippewa, who started off down the 
river towards the Seneca towns. Dick 



waited long and anxiously for the re- 
turn of the Indian, but he never saw 
him again. He then consulted the 
commander of the fort, and told him 
his purpose and the result of his form- 
er effort. The officer laughed at him, 
and told him the next time not to pay 
till the work was done. He also di- 
rected him to a trustworthy Indian 
with whom he was able to make a con- 
tract for the delivery of Mrs. Dick in 
Detroit on the payment of eighteen 
dollars. The second Indian started 
next morning in his bark canoe, down 
the Detroit fiiver. He had to go to the 
mouth and then up the. Maumee to the 
place where the party with whom Mrs. 
Dick lived was encamped on a fall 
hunt. This place he managed to reach 
in the night. He watched from the 
opposite side of the river the next 
morning till all the Indians had gone 
out hunting. He then crossed over and 
secreted his canoe at the bank. Hav- 
ing concealed himself in a thicket with- 
in view of the camp, he reconnoitered 
for some hours, until he ascertained 
that the men were certainly gone, and 
that there were but few squaws. For- 
tunately, an old black woman, who had 
been a prisoner for a long time, came 
near to where he lay concealed, and he 
accosted her. With this woman he 
was soon able to make a contract, after 
ascertaining that Mrs. Dick was lying 
in the camp, by which he would attain 
his object. The understanding with 
the black woman was that the Indian 
was to go immediately back to the 
other side of the river and sink his 
canoe till nightfall, then raise it and 
make ready for departure. After all 
became still about the camp, he was to 
stand on the bank at a certain point 
known to the black woman with his 
face towards the camp, with a piece of 
punk between his two hands held be- 
fore his mouth, on which he would oc- 
casionally blow his breath, at the same 
time opening his hands in front for her 
to see the light. The old black woman 
acted in goqd faith, apprised Mrs. 
Dick of the project, who rejoiced to 
hear it, and when the Indians had all 
returned from hunting, eaten, smoked, 
chatted, grown sleepy, gone to bed and 
were certainly asleep, she took Mrs. 
Dick on her shoulders, for she was still 
unable to walk from the rheumatism, 
and carefully carried her to the bank of 
the river, where she had taken the pre- 
caution to conceal a canoe during the 
afternoon. She observed the Indian’s 
signals on the opposite side and having 
gotten her burden on board the little 
craft, she quietly paddled over to 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



where the Indian awaited her. When 
she arrived, the Indian took Mrs. Dick 
by the shoulders, the black woman 
having her by the feet, and lifted her 
on board his own canoe, and immedi- 
ately started down the river to Detroit, 
exerting all his energies till daylight, 
when he landed, carried Mrs. Dick off 
several hundred yards and secreted her 
in the thick woods, marking the place 
carefully w f ith his eye, and returned to 
his canoe, which he carefully sunk. 
He then hid himself a short distance 
from Mrs. Dick and slept several hours. 
When he awoke, he went to see his un- 
fortunate charge, and found her suffer- 
ing, much from thirst as well as pain. 
The Indian hurried immediately in 
search of water. After some time he 
found a spring, and taking off his moc- 
casins, tilled them with water, which 
he carried to the suffering woman. 
Night at length came and he again set 
out with his charge. He rowed hard 
all night, and lay by the next day, tak- 
ing the same precautions as he had the 
proceeding one. The next night’s ef- 
fort took him out of danger, and he 
continued to row on during the greater 
part of the day. Towards evening, he 
arrived safely with Mrs. Dick at De- 
troit, delivered her over to her anxious 
husband and received his pay. 

After Mrs. Dick had sufficiently rest- 
ed, and her husband had secured suffi- 
cient means for the journey, they bid 
adieu to the kind hearted Englishmen 
who had so much aided him in his mis- 
fortunes. They got on board of a small 
vessel bound for Buffalo, and were 
landed at Erie, Pennsylvania, about the 
first of December, ’91, From there he 
found it very difficult to get any kind 
of conveyance in the direction of his 
home in Westmoreland county. He, 
however, finally at an enormous expense 
for one so low in funds as himself, en- 
gaged a man with a sleigh and horses 
to carry them part of the way. After 
this, he could procure no conveyance 
of any description. So he took his still 
almost helpless wife on his back and 
carried her several miles through the 
snow and woods to the next settlement. 
There he was fortunate enough to get 
a boy and ox sled for a couple of days. 
When the boy turned back, Dick again 
shouldered his companion and started 
forward. In this way the greater part 



of the winter was spent. Sometimes 
they were compelled to take shelter for 
weeks at a wayside cabin, until the 
abatement of the intense cold, or the 
partial melting of the deep snows, pe- 
culiar to that climate. But whenever 
the weather was at all favorable, and 
Mrs. D. could possibly endure the ex- 
posure and fatigue, her noble and 
heroic husband would again set out in 
the direction of their home, either 
carrying her himself or having the 
temporary aid of some kind person 
who had the ability to afford it. Final- 
ly, on the 8th of March, 1792, they ar- 
rived at Pittsburg almost worn out 
with hardships and fatigue. From 
this they soon reached their friends 
and home in Legonier Valley. 

During the next autubin Mr. Dick 
and wife visited his friends in Phila- 
delphia, where the story of their cap- 
tivity and sufferings was heard with 
astonishment, and themselves regarded 
with deep interest by the citizens, 
many of whom were anxious to have it 
written and published, but Mr. Dick’s 
native modesty prompted him to de- 
cline such a notoriety. 

In the following November (1793,) he 
emigrated to Kentucky, but not being 
as well pleased with that State as he 
anticipated, he determined, after 
Wayne’s treaty established peace on 
an apparently firm basis, to move to 
the Scioto Valley, where he hoped to 
make his permanent home. Accord- 
ingly, he availed himself of the oppor- 
tunity offered by Gen. Massie and 
joined his company in the spring of ’96, 
to make the first settlement in the vi- 
cinity of where Chillicothe now stands. 
He assisted in laying out the town and 
contributed much during the six years 
he remained there towards building up 
a Presbyterian congregation and estab- 
lishing good morals among the citizens. 
He was an exemplary member of the 
Presbyterian Church from his early 
youth to the close of his life. During 
his residence at Chillicothe he had the 
misfortune to lose his wife, and the 
continued sickliness of the Scioto Val- 
ley finally constrained him to forego 
the pleasures of the society there and 
seek health amid the Highland Hills. 
Mr. C. G, Dick, his son, was the first 
white child born in the present town- 
ship of Marshall. 



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CHAPTER XVIII 



WILLIAM AND BIGGER HEAD AND JOSEPH, JOHN AND BENJAMIN WEST SET- 
TLE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF SINKING SPRINGS AND MARSHALL — 
RUMORS OF INDIAN HOSTILITIES AT CHILLICOTHE CREATR GREAT FEAR 
AND EXCITEMENT IN THE NEW SETTLEMENTS— GRAPHIC ACCOUNT OF 
THE KILLING OF THE SHAWNEE CHIEF, WAW-WIL-A-WAY. 



About the year 1800 William and 
Bigger Head came with their families 
from Barren county, Kentucky, and 
settled in the neighborhood of Frank- 
lin and Dick, the one in what is now 
Brushcreek township, the other near 
where Marshall now stands. They 
continued to reside on the farms on 
which they then settled up to the time 
of their death, a few years ago, having 
reared large and respectable families, 
and being much esteemed as worthy 
and useful citizens. The following 
year Joseph, John and Benjamin West 
moved with their families from Pittsyl- 
vania county, Va., and settled four 
miles west of Sinking Springs. These 
Wests were cousins of the great histor- 
ical painter, Benjamin West, who, 
though born in Pennsylvania, was ed- 
ucated and spent his life in England. 

The first sermon preached in the 

S resent township of Marshall was by 
Lev. David Young, in June, 1802, at 
the house of Bigger Head. Mr. Young 
was of the Methodist denomination 
and a traveler through the county. 

The Indians continued to visit the 
Brushcreek and Suntish Hills tor many 
years after the first white settlements, 
and after they had all moved to their 
own lands set apart for them in the 
northwest part of the State, they 
would return for a fall hunt on their 
pld grounds among the hills. One old 
Indian, says Major Franklin, named 
King Solomon, encamped upon the 
fiapks of the branch that empties into 
the Rocky Fork, near where Oakland 
meeting house now stands, about four 
miles east of Hillsboro. He and his 
companions hunted at will over the 
surrounding country— were entirely 
peaceable and inclined to be sociable 
and agreeable with the few white set- 
tlers in their range. They struck up 
quite a little trade with the whites, ex- 
changing bear’s meat and venison for 
salt. The Indians continued to be 
quite numerous in this section as late 
1803. 

During the summer of this year great 
alarm was caused by the arrival of a 
messenger from ChillicOthe, with in- 
formation that the Indians had assum* 

( 76 ) 



ed a hostile attitude and were hourly 
expected to attack that place. This 
news spread, of course, with great 
rapidity throughout all the sparsely 
inhabited portion of Southern Ohio and 
put the tenants of every log cabin in 
an active and anxious state of prepara- 
tion to meet the enemy at any moment, 
for they did not know how soon the 
attack would be commenced. The set- 
tlers in the vicinity repaired to the 
house of Bigger Head and having hast- 
ily provided a supply of provisions, for- 
tified the house as best they could and 
made all preparation in their powerfor 
siege and defense. There were in this 
temporary fort five men, two women 
and four children— namely, Bigger, 
"Thomas and William Head, Antnony 
Franklin and Thomas Dick; Mrs. 
Thomas Dick and Mrs. Bigger Head 
being the women. They had four ef- 
fective guns and two kegs of powder. 
With these slender means of defense, 
they, with the courage that “ever and 
always” distinguishedthe frontiersmen 
resolved to defend their castle to the 
last. They only remained thus forted 
about two days, word being received 
that the alarm was false. 

That alarm caused the settlers about 
Sinking Springs to collect and fortify, 
themselves. The same was true in re- 
gard to most other settlements 
throughout the county. Notwithstand- 
ing the notorious fact that a general 
peace had existed for more than eight 
years, and the further fact that the In- 
dians had acknowledged their weakness 
and inability to contend with the 
whites, yet the old dread of an Indian 
warfare and its well remembered 
horrors, caused ail to distrust, and on 
the slightest alarm to tremble for the 
safety of themselves and their wives 
and children. 

The cause of the alarm originated 
quited singularly and was altogether 
the fault of a small number of heartless 
and lawless white men. The Indians, 
blood thirsty and relentless as to their 
character, had, up to this time, strictly 
adhered to the treaty made with Gen. 
Wayne in 1795. 

Amoaij those who raised the first 



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A. HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 77 



corn in the prairie below Chillicothe in 
the summer of *96, was Captain Herrod, 
of Kentucky. He was a most respect- 
able and worthy man, possessing great 
influence in the settlement, and beloved 
by all who knew him. He had re- 
moved to a farm a few miles west of 
Chillicothe, which he was engaged in 
clearing. In the spring of 1803, as 
some persons were hunting in the 
woods in the vicinity of his clearing, 
they found the body of a man toma- 
hawked and scalped, which was recog- 
nized as that of Captain Herrod. It was 
believed from the manner of his death 
that it was the work of Indians and 
the conclusion very naturally followed 
that they had recommenced hostilities 
on the whites. Subsequent develop- 
ments, however, disproved this and 
satisfied the people that Herrod was not 
killed by Indians, but it was never 
known by whom, nor for what purpose 
the murder was committed, and it re- 
mains wrapped in mystery to this day. 
There were various conjectures at tho 
time, and it was hinted, and by many 
firmly believed, that the savage deed 
was perpetrated by a white man who 
had been an unsuccessful rival candi- 
date to Herrod for the office of Captain 
of Militia. This was the impression of 
many, but no evidence ever was dis- 
closed to fix the guilt upon him or any 
one else, which was, by the mode of 
killing and scalping, attempted to be 
fastened on the more honorable and 
magnanimous Indians. On the other 
hand a large majority were disposed to 
believe the Indians were guilty. They 
lived all around and were regarded 
with much distrust and jealousy. The 
account of his death by the hands of 
Indians spread with great rapidity 
over the Scioto Valley, and of course 
preparations for war followed. In 
some places block houses were hurried- 
ly run up and all things put in order 
for defense. The citizens of Chilli- 
"othe though in the center of popula- 
tion, collected together for the purpose 
of fortifying the town. Sentinels were 
posted and a vigilant guard kept night 
and day. Rumor, with her overheated 
and affrighted imagination and her 
thousand tongues, was busily engaged 
in spreading her alarms. . At one time 
it was reported that Captain John, an 
Indian Chief, with his warriors, had 
killed all the inhabitants of Darby; and 
again, that other settlements had fall- 
en beneath the hand of the savage foe. 

Gov. Tiffin sent up a request to Major 
Manarey, who resided on the North 
Fork of Paint, some distance from 
where the body of Herrod was found, 



to raise a company of men and go to 
the place— also to proceed on through 
the Indian settlements to their towns 
to ascertain if possible what complicity 
they hacLin the murder and if any posi- 
tive discovery was made to seize the 
guilty parties. He was also ordered to 
collect information as to how far the 
Indians entertained hostile intentions 
towards the whites. Gen. McArthur 
and others joined the party until it 
numbered near fifty men. They pro- 
ceeded as far as Mad River, saw sever- 
al chiefs and many warriors. From all 
they heard the same story of ignorance 
of the murder, and peaceful intentions 
on the part of the Indians. 

The inhabitants of the North Fork 
of Paint were all called to Old Town 
and among them was one David 
Wolfe, an old hunter and a man of 
wealth and inlluence. He had settled 
on the North Fork, twenty miles above 
Old Town. After remaining in the 
town several days he employed two 
men, Williams and Ferguson, to go 
with him to his farm, with the view 
of looking after his stock. The party 
was, of course, armed. When they 
had proceeded about tw r o miles and 
were passing through a prairie, they 
saw an Indian approaching them in the 
distance and walking in the same path 
over which they were traveling. On a 
nearer approach the Indian was found 
to be the Shawnee Chief, Waw-wil-a- 
way, tho old and faithful hunter of 
Gen. Massie during his surveying 
tours, and an unwavering friend of the 
white man. He was a sober, brave, in- 
telligent, worthy fellow r , well known 
to most of the settlers of the country, 
and beloved by all for his frank, manly 
and generous demeanor. He had a 
wife and t tvo sons, who w'ere also much 
respected by their white neighbors 
where they resided, near the mouth of 
Hard ins Creek, in the present county 
of Highland. Old Town was the trad- 
ing point where the Shawnee Chief 
and his sons exchanged their peltries 
for powder, lead, <&c., and he had left 
home that morning on foot, with his 
gun on his shoulder, for the purpose of 
visiting that place on his ordinary 
business. When he met the company 
before him, he approached them in his 
usual frank and friendly manner. Af- 
ter shaking hands with them most cor- 
dially, he inquired into the health of 
each of them and their families. The 
salution being over Wolfe asked him if 
he would trade guns; the chief said 
maybe he would and handed his gun to 
Wolfe to examine, at the same time 
taking his offered gun. While tbq 



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78* . A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY ' OHIO . 



chief was looking at the white man’s 
gun, Wolfe, being on horseback, un- 
perceived by the Indian, opened the pan 
of his gun and threw out the priming. 
He then handed it back to thtf chief, 
saying he would not trade. Wolfe and 
Williams then dismounted amd asked 
the chief if the Indians had commenced 
war, to which he replied, “No, no! the 
Indians and the white men are now all 
one, a!l brothers.” Wolfe then asked if 
he had heard that the Indians had 
killed Capt. Herrod. The chief mani- 
fested much] surprise, and replied that 
he had not heard it, and seemed to 
doubt its correctness. Wolfe assured 
him of its truth. The Indian replied, 
“Maybe whisky, too much drink was 
the cause of the quarrel.” Wolfe told 
him that Herrod had no quarrel with 
the Indians, and it was not known by 
whom he was killed or for what cause. 
The chief replied, maybe some bad 
white man killed Captain Herrod. The 
conversation then ended, and the party 
made preparation to resume their jour- 
ney. The chief again shook hands 
with them all in the same friendly 
manner as at meeting and they parted. 
After the chief had proceeded on his 
way a few steps, Wolfe raised his rifle 
and, taking deliberate aim at the In- 
dian’s back, fired. The ball passed 
through his body but he did not fall, 
though he seemed conscious that it 
must soon cause his death; nor did he 
submit to die as most men would have 
done under such circumstances. 

The great Csesar, when stabbed by 
his friend in the Senate Chamber of 
Imperial Home, gathered his robes 
about him that he might fall with dig- 
nity; not 60 , however, with the Shaw- 
nee Chief in the midst of the hereditary 
hunting grounds of his tribe. He 
turned upon his dastardly assailants, 
determined to sell his life as dearly as 
his dying condition would admit. 
Raising his unerring rifle, he leveled it 
upon Wolfe, whom he knew to be the 
black hearted coward who had shot 
him by the smoke of his gun, but the 
scoundrel jumped behind his horse. 
Williams’ horse becoming frightened 
and plunging about left his body 
partly unprotected, and the chief shot 
him through the body and he fell dead 
in the path. The Indian then clubbed 
his gun and in a state of desperation 
rushed upon Wolfe, and with one blow 
prostrated him to the earth. Recover- 
ing, and being strong and active, he 
closed with the Indian and made an 
effort to seize him by the long tuft •of 
hair on the top of his head. He had a 
shawl tied around his head in the man- 



ner of a turban, and this beiug seized 
by Wolfe instead of the hair, he gave a 
violent jerk for the purpose of bring- 
ing him to the ground. The shawl 
giving way, Wolfe fell on his back. 
At this the Indian drew his scalping- 
knife and made a thrust at his antag- 
onist, who, seeing his danger, and 
throwing up his feet to ward it off, re- 
ceived the blade of the knife in his 
thigh. In the scuffle the handle broke 
off and left the entire blade in the 
wound. Wolfe at the same time made 
a blow at the Indian with his knife, 
which entered his breast bone. Just 
at this critical juncture, Ferguson ran 
to Wolfe’s assistance. The Indian 
then seized Wolfe’s fallen gun and 
struck Ferguson a most fearful blow 
on the head and brought him to the 
earth, laying bare his skull from the 
crown to the ear. Here the sanguinary 
conflict ended; and so rapid had been 
the work of bloodshed and death that 
all was accomplished in less time than 
it has taken us to relate it. 

When the deadly strife was over the 
foes of Waw-wil-a-way w r ere all lying 
at his feet and had he been able to have 
follow'ed up his blows he would have 
left none living behind him, for they 
were completely in his power. But his 
strength failed him rapidly from loss 
of blood, and his sight became dim. 
He cast one glance on his fallen foes, 
it may have been of forgiveness, then 
turning, walked- a short distance out 
into the grass in all the dignity of na- 
ture’s true nobleman, sunk upon his 
face amid the wild prairie flow-era, 
where his heart, which had ever been 
impelled by the most magnanimous 
emotions and true friendship for the 
white man, at once and forever was still. 

During the entire encounter, he never 
uttered a word. Silently he enacted 
his part in the fearful drama, —he 
fought his last battle with a heroism 
worthy the glory of his ancestors and 
the instincts of a true man. The con- 
duct of Wolfe and his companions was 
cowardly and mean beyond anything 
known in the history of the West, and 
deserves the execration of the whole 
world. It was a deliberate murder, 
perpetrated under circumstances of the 
blackest treachery. They first attempt- 
ed to disarm their victim by throwing 
the priming out of his gun, and then 
parting with him under the mask of 
friendship. Had Wolfe and his com- 
panions supposed him an accessory to 
the death of Herrod, he would have 
gone with them to Old Town or Chilli- 
cothe and surrendered himself for in- 
vestigation. 



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79 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



Williams was found dead of his 
wounds and his body was carried to the 
house of Nathaniel Pope, with whom 
he had recently been engaged as a 
workhand on his farm. Wolfe was 
carried home in a wagon and the knife 
blade extracted by a surgeon. Fergu- 
son's wound was also dressed, but they 
both suffered much. The body of the 
chief was found where he fell, and 
taken by some of his tribe to a place of 
interment. 

The death ot this great and good In- 
dian chief added fuel to the excitement 
which had preceded it. The Indians 
in the neighborhood fled in one direc- 
tion and the whites another. Neither 
party knew what to do. All was dis- 
may and confusion. In this dreadful 
state of suspense and alarm, Gen. Mc- 
Arthur and a large number of men 
mounted their horses and went to the 
heart of the Indian country, near Fort 
Greenville, where they found a numer- 
ous body of Indians, among whom was 
the far-famed Tecumseh, or Shooting 
Star, as the name signifies. With these 
Indians a council was held. Gen. Mc- 
Arthur related all that had happened 
connected with the death of Herrod 
and the Shawnee Chief. The Indians 
declared they had no knowledge of these 
transactions and reiterated their pur- 
pose to stand firm by the treaty made 
eight years before at that place. After 
some further deliberation between the 
parties, Tecumseh agreed to accompany 
them to Chillicothe, which he did. Af- 
ter their arrival a day was fixed on 
which he addressed the people. He 
spoke through an interpreter, and his 
prepossessihg appearance and native 
eloquence made a powerful impression 
on the vast concourse of people assem- 
bled to hear him. This visit and speech 
allayed all alarm, and the people re- 
turned again to their quiet homes and 
peaceful avocations. 

The panic was so great among the 
settlers about Old Town that they sent 
a petition to Gov. Tiffin requesting him 
to send a company of militiamen to 
guard them while they planted corn. 
About the 24th of May the company 
was ordered up. They stayed about a 
week guarding the farmers, and had a 
fine frolic during the time. 

In the course of a few days after the 
murder of the chief, the Indians col- 
lected to the number of three or four 
hundred in the forks of Lees Creek in 
this county. The white settlers in that 
vicinity were very few at that time. 
Nathaniel Pope being the only one near 
the encampment, he and his family 
were of course very much alarmed, but 



did not retreat to the nearest fort at 
the falls of Paint as many others had 
done, in Smith's old mill, then the 
property of Massie. Some of the chiefs 
went to Pope's, who sent off for some of 
his Quaker neighbors who still remain- 
ed at home, and they and the chiefs 
held a council under a spreading elm, 
which yet stands by a spring on the farm 
where he then resided. The Indians 
seemed not disposed to resort to actual 
hostilities, but at the same time they 
exhibited a decided inclination to take 
advantage of the general alarm and the 
weak and unprotected condition of the 
whites in their vicinity. So they pro- 
posed to make a divide of property and 
thenceforth hold Pope ana his friends 
exempt from hostilities in case war 
should break out in reality. The In- 
dians wanted half their provisions and 
salt, and all the blankets that could be 
found. The young men were to go and 
help take the surviving murderers of 
their chief. The idea of parting with 
her blankets could not be endured by 
Mrs. Pope, so she flatly refused and the 
treaty was on the point of being broken 
off. One of the Indians then picked up 
her youngest son, now Gen. J. W.Pope, 
then a lad of some ten or twelve years 
ot age, and standing him up against a 
tree, went through the motions of tom- 
ahawking and scalping to show her 
what would be the consequence to the 
whole family of a persistence in her re- 
fusal. She not assenting promptly, he 
then stepped off fifteen or twenty feet 
and commenced throwing his toma- 
hawk and sticking it in the tree a few 
inches above the boy's head, the sur- 
rounding Indians laughing loudly the 
while. This Mrs. P. could not endure, 
so the treaty was ratified at once, and 
the Indians went off, taking with them 
William Pope and some others of the 
young men to hunt Wolfe, the mur- 
derer. 

According to the Indian law the 
nearest of kin to the murdered man 
has a right to kill the murderer when- 
ever and wherever he can find him. 
Wolfe knowing this fled as soon as he 
was able and escaped to Kentucky, at 
the same time employing an agent to 
intercede for him. A negotiation was 
finally entered into with the sons of the 
deceased chief, by which the agent of 
Wolfe agreed to furnish each of them a 
horse, a new saddle and bridle, and a 
new rifle, on which they agreed to bury 
the tomahawk and make peace with 
him forever. 

The ceremonies were had at Old 
Town in presence of a large concourse 
of Indians and whites. A hollow 



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80 A BlStO&Y OP HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



square was formed, in which were 
Wolfe, the horses, &c., and the two 
sons of the dead chief, who, in relin- 
quishing their claim to the life of the 
murderer, raised their hands towards 
heaven, invoking the Great Spirit, de- 
claring to him alone they transferred 
the blood and life of Wolfe, forfeited 
to them by the murder of their father. 
The scene was full of the most impres- 
sive solemnity, and many were moved 
to tears. In token of forgiveness, they 



advanced and took Wolfe by the hand; 
then saluting him as a brother, they 
lighted the calumet and smoked with 
him. The assembly then dispersed, all 
on the most friendly terms. The two 
young Indians returned to their camp 
at the mouth of Hardins Creek, and sat 
down peacefully by the side of old 
Allen Crawford and his sons who were 
also encamped there on a hunt. So 
ended the last Indian alarm in South- 
ern Ohio. 



o 

CHAPTER XIX. 



MORGAN VAN METER LOCATES ON TIIE EAST FORK, OPENS A nOTEL, LAYS 
OUT A TOWN, AND INDULGES IN BRIGHT DREAMS OF FUTURE PROSPER- 
ITY— JONATHAN BERRYMAN APPOINTED POST-MASTER AT NEW MARKET 
—AARON WATSON STARTS A HOTEL, AND JOHN AND WILLIAM OAMPTON 
ESTABLISH A TANNERY IN THE SAME PLACE— HOW THE MATERIALS FOR 
THE MANUFACTURE OF LEATHER WERE PROCURED — MARRIAGE OF 
MICHAEL STROUP AND POLLY WALKER, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE 
WEDDING CEREMONY— DAVID ROSS SETTLES IN WHAT IS NOW UNION 
TOWNSHIP— DAVID REECE, A CARPENTER, IS CORDIALLY WELCOMED AND 
CONTRIBUTES GREATLY TO THE COMFORT AND CONVENIENCES OF THE 



EARLY SETTLERS OF THE COUNTY 
MARKET. 



Early in the spring of 1803 Morgan 
VanMeter left Kentucky for Ohio. He 
had a wife and considerable family, 
and being a backwoodsman, from long 
habit as a hunter and Indian fighter, 
he made his location on the head 
waters of the East Fork of the Little 
Miami, about fifteen miles north of 
New Market, then an extreme out-post 
settlement. His nearest neighbors 
were the Evans on Clear Creek, the 
McKibbens and Miller a few miles 
down the creek, and Adams on Turtle 
Creek. This selection not only gave 
him an opportunity of locating his 
warrant on the choice of many miles 
square of land, but secured to him fine 
hunting grounds in his own immediate 
vicinity, which in those days was es- 
teemed an object of first importance. 

VanMeter had often been over the 
ground while it yet remained in the 
possession of its original and native 
proprietors; the Wyandotts, and was 
therefore familiar with the favorite 
points. Several years before he • was 
one of a party of Kentuckians on their 
way to attack the Indian towns on the 
Little Miami, who encamped over 
night a few miles north of where he 
chose his new home. One of their 



JOSEPH EAKINS LOCATES NEAR NEW 



number deserted to the enemy and 

? ave warning of their approach, which 
rustrated the object of the expedition, 
and they found it necessary for their 
own safety to turn back. They named 
their camp the “Deserted Camp,” and 
it has ever since been a place or notor- 
iety among land surveyors. On this 
expedition he marked the peculiar 
merits of the surrounding country and 
when he pulled up stakes in Kentucky, 
and set his face northward, he follow- 
ed the trace from Limestone on 
through New Market tp the banks of 
the East Fork. Here he built his little 
cabin, cleared out his corn patch and 
made himself a home, depending en- 
tirely on the products of the chase for 
subsistence during the summer. Some 
corn was had at a high price in the ad- 
joining settlementsbut he gave him- 
self very little trouble about bread, 
substituting “jerk” for it as a general 
thing. This jerk is deer meat dried by 
the fire until it is entirely divested of 
all moisture. It will keep for a long 
time and is not a bad substitute for 
bread in case of extreme necessity. 
Dry turkey breast was also used * in 
those days for the same purpose. 

The point selected by VanMeter 



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A HIS’rOkY OP HIGHLAND COVNtY \ OHIO. 81 



tobs* for the time, rather a good one. 
Kenton’s trace, or the old Mad River 
toad, as it afterwards became, was then 
the main thoroughfare north, and, as 
femigfation increased very rapidly in 
that direction from Kentucky/ his 
house, being almost the only one be- 
tween New Market and Springfield, 
Was soon known far and near as a 
stopping place for the weary and lone- 
ly •‘mover.” A ttace \f as cut out from 
Chillicothe to the settlement at Leba- 
non, which place was laid out in the 
fall of 1803, which Crossed the Mad 
itiver road at YanMefer’s improve- 
ment and added considerably to the 
humber of persons claiming his hospi- 
tality, as well as the importance of his 
location. He found it necessary dur- 
ing the fall to build another cabin and 
finally to open a tavern in regular 
form. VanMeter was well adapted to 
the times and the vocation of a log 
cabin landlord. He managed to keep 
a supply of whisky, venison and corn- 
bread or hominy, and could tell good 
yarns and play the fiddle for the amuse- 
ment of his guests. He thus continued 
to do business and prospered for three 
or four years. About this time he en- 
gaged a surveyor and proceeded to 
further develop his original plan when 
he first selected the location. He laid 
off a town on the beautiful bank of the 
creek and named it Morgantown. The 
lots sold for a time pretty rapidly, as 
many believed the point a good one, 
there being no town than in existence 
to interfere with its prosperity. The 
place improved considerably in the 
way ot log cabins and small clearings. 
It was then in Ross county, and the 
supposition of many was that it stood 
a fair chance to become the Beat of a 
new county at no distant day. When 
Highland county was organized, Mor- 
gantown was within its boundaries but 
other civil divisions of the surplus ter- 
ritory being soon after made, the as- 
piring town on the East Fork was 
found in the wrong location. It, how- 
ever, still continued to improve slowly, 
but finally it stopped, then commenced 
declining and finally went down and 
died out entirely. The very name is 
now almost forgotten by the old set- 
tlers, and not half of their children 
ever heard of it, and nearly every trace 
of the town has disappeared. 

After Wishart threw up in disgust 
his commission of Postmaster of New 
Market, Jonathan Berryman was ap- 
pointed as his successor, and entered 
upon the discharge of his duties as 
such, which he continued to perform 
for about twenty years, adhering scru- 



pulously to the very letter of the law 
regulating the department. * Aaron 
Watson having moved into New Mar- 
ket from Kentucky ahd opened a small 
tavern, and neither the business nor 
the town coming up to the expectations 
of Wishart, he sold out in the summer 
of 1803 and moved off. This year John 
Campton, from Kentucky, established 
a tan yard in New Market, the first in 
the present county of Highland. A 
few months afterwards his brother 
William came and engaged with him 
in the yard. Tanning in those days, 
though doubtless quite as necessary for 
the convenience of the people as is that 
art now, was carried on under many diffi- 
culties. Hides were scarce and dear. 
Bark they had to gather themselves in 
the woods as best suited their conveni- 
ence, and the present indispensable re- 
quisite to leather finishing, fish oil, 
could hardly be procured at any cost. 
As a consequence leather was very 
costly. But pioneer tanners as well as 
hatters and others, were not at a loss 
for expedients. They fell back upon 
the natural resources of the country 
and for years the tanners, not only of 
New Market, but otfier parts of the 
country in Southern Ohio, bdught in all 
the coon, ’possum, hear and other oils 
obtained by the hunters from the native 
animals of the woods. This opened up 
quite a trade, and was not only a source 
of profit to many, But of convenience 
to all in those days when money was 
almost out of the question. They were 
thus, by ordinary industry and care, en- 
abled to supply their necessary wants 
in the way of leather. This species of 
oils was used pretty generally in this 
region up as late as 1»20, though tan- 
ners did not like to acknowledge the 
fact, for the reason that they were en- 
abled to keep the price of leather up on 
pretence of the high price of fi3h oil, 
little or none of which they in fact 
used. They, when wild animals be- 
came rather scarce, and milch cows 
plenty, bought all the unsalted butter 
they could get and used it as a substi- 
tute for oil. Tanning, in this way, 
soon became a most lucrative business 
and yards became quite common. 
Some two years after Campton estab- 
lished his yard in New Market, he sold 
out to his brother William and moved 
away. 

In Match, 1803, Michael Stroup and 
Miss Polly • Walker were married in 
New Market. Miss W. was then a 
very handsome, sprightly, blackeyed 

f irl of eighteen, had emigrated from 
'leming county, Kentucky, with her 
mother and stepfather, Mr. Joseph 



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82 A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 

Myers, to the falls of Paint four years hold by the right hand— and as good 
before, and to New Market in the looking and as virtuous a young woman 
spring of 1801. aslver the Virgin Mary was— to be yer 

Some ©f the characteristics of a mar- lawfully wedded wife ? Do you promise 
riage at this early period of our county’s that you will forsake all others, (now by 
history will doubtless be interesting, the Lord Mike, you must quit running 
It can not lie referred to as a specimen, after the other girls and cleave to her 
for weddings in those days were no alone, will ye Mike ?)” “Yes— yes, (said 
more all alike than they are at the the groom) oh. by G— d, yes!” “Well, 
present. There was, however, a mark- Miss Polly, will you take Mike, whom 
ed difference in the way this important you hold by the right hand to be your 
service was disposed or, from the gen- lawfully wedded husband, (he is worthy, 
eral custom of this enlightened ,day. for he is as sprightly a young man as 
Mr. and Mra. Stroup reared fourteen iver wore a pair of buckskin broking,) 
children, all of whom attained maturi- you promise to forsake all others, (but 
ty and married, except one. The what the deil’s the use to make a woman 
bride’s dress on tne occasion was a very promise that, when we know they won’t 
fine light figured calico dress, which keep their promise, but I think you are 
cost one dollar per yard, though most an exception,) you will cleave to him til 
of those who could get it bought white it please the Lord to separate you by 
muslin worth two dollars a yard; often, death, will you Polly ? I know yon will 
though, they wore common home-spun, —yes— then I pronounce you man and 
She wore a nice plain cap on her head, wife— no more two , but one. The Lord 
white silk gloves, a plain white collar bless you. Now go home and raise your 
and shoes and stockings. The groom children for the Lord. The lord bless 
was dressed in brown dress coat and you, ha, ha, ha ; take your seats now, 
pants, white marseilles vest, white ha,— the Lord bless you.” This couple 
socks and low quartered shoes and have played well tbieir parts in life and 
white kid gloves. Mostly, however, have doubtless received as much of tem- 
the grooms of that day were nothing poral blessings as could be reasonably 
like so well dressed. Most people, even asked. 

then, tried to have one decent suit. The following autumn George Parkin- 
The wedding took place at 2 o’clock p. son and Miss Rebecca Jtoss were married 
m# The party was small and the cere- in Nerw Market. It will be remembered 
mony was performed by ’Squire Oliver in this connection that Miss Ross was 
Ross. Ross was decidedly a character, the first white woman known to have 
and the ceremony as administered offi- ever been within the boundaries of the 
daily by him, is sufficient evidence, not present county of Highland, as she came 
only of his bold peculiarities, but of the as camp keeper some six years before for 
free and easy manners of the time, her father and the company of survey- 
We give it to the reader just in the ors under Henry Maesie.: 
language in which it was furnished to During the summer of 1803 David 
us by an old pioneer, who vouches for Ross emigrated from Kentucky and set- 
the correctness of it. It is a graphic tied the farm in the present township of 
description, the most so we have ever Union, in Highland county, on which 
seen of a marriage ceremony, and we Isaac French lived and died. Ross and 
trust that will furnish sufficient apolo- his wife raised the cabin in which they 
gy for the novelties it contains. * Oli- lived. At this time the country for 
ver Ross (otherwise called Governor many miles around was an Unbroken 
Ross,) a Justice of the Peace, who held wilderness, inhabited only by Indians 
his office by appointment of the Terri- and wild beasts. His nearest neighbors 
torial Governor, was the honored indi- were Morgan VanMeterand the McKib- 
vidual named by the parties to solemn- bens on the East Fork ot the Miami, 
ize the marriage contract. On the day The nearest mill was on the Little 
appointed the parties, with their friends, Miami, with only a “blind trace” 
appeared before his honor. “Well, (said through the woods. Mrs. Ross, during 
the ’Squire in his peculiar Irish style,) the absence of her husband at mill, 
we have met to-day til join til gither in would leave the house and stay in the 
holy matrimony Michael Stroup and woods until he came back, for fear of the 
Polly Walker— as respectable a couple Indians. He, however, had a brave 
as iyej the Lord brought till gither. pioneer heart, cleared his little field. 
Now, I do hope that not one of you will planted and raised corn for meal and 
ha oney objiction to their gettin’ mar- hominy— hunted the bear, deer and tur- 
ned. I think there will be no objiction. key, and enjoyed his isolated condition 
Join your right hands. Well, Mr. quite well* In the course of a year or' 
Mike, willyou take Miss Polly, whom you so, he had the satisfaction of seeing tho 

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surrounding country gradually filling up 
with settlers, and as he took his accus- 
tomed rounds with his rifie, new marks 
of the advance of civilisation were mani- 
fest — the deadening, the clearing, and 
the smoke of the rude cabin appeared. 
The humanizing effect of social life again 
was felt by the hitherto lonely couple, 
and their joyous hearts spoke in. their 
cheerful countenances, as they extended 
the hand of welcome and hospitality to 
their new neighbors. These early pio- 
neers were the very soul of kindness 
and hospitality, free from the gross sel- 
fishness which is but too characteristic 
of more wealthy and refined communi- 
ties. 

David Reece emigrated from Grayson 
county, Virginia, to what is now High-, 
land, in 1802. ‘He was then a youth of 
fifteen, and had some knowledge of the 
carpenter trade, which he subsequently 
followed and perfected to a fair extent. 
By his industry and skill in his trade, he 
much assisted in adding to the comfort 
of the first settlers, by building better 
homes for them, as the improved state 
of the country demanded a cnangeof the 
character of the dwellings of the people. 

In connection with the numerous dif- 
ficulties the early settlers had to en- 
counter in this country, most of their 
descendants have heard the homely but 
indispensable pack saddle referred to as 
an implement then familiar to every- 
body. Like many of the contrivances 
of the time, it has long since grown out 
of use, has disappeared from among the 
necessaries of man and is now almost 
effaced from the minds of the inhabit- 
ants of the country. In the many and 
weary trips taken by the first settlers of 
Highland to the Scioto salt works, near 
where the town of Jackson, in Jackson 
county, now stands, the pack-saddle was 
the protection of the horsed back, as 
well as of the burden he bore. A de- 
scription of this old time affair, which a 
pioneer friend has furnished, may be of 
interest to many of the people of the 
present day. 

A pack saddle, he says, was made in 
this manner : An oak board from six to 
eight inches wide, and an inch or inch 
and a quarter thick, and about two feet 
long. This board is rounded off from 
the inside so as not to hurt the horse. 
Two of these pieces are necessary. 
Then two pieces of tough timber two 
inches broad, an inch and a quarter 
thick, and about fifteen inches long. 
These pieces are let into each other near 
the middle at an angle something less 
than a right angle and riveted strongly 
to the side pieces. A pad of straw is 
placed under this structure and inch 



holes bored through the side pieces, 
through which buffalo tugs are passed 
to fasten it to the house, and this is the 
whole of this simple but useful article. 
A pack well adjusted on one of these 
saddles can hardly, by any possibility, 
lose off. If it is bulkv, it is lashed on 
with tug*. These saddles are admirably 
adapted to the distribution of weight. 
Sometimes one man would conduct a 
large number of pack horses, they being 
little o$ no trouble after they become 
somewhat accustomed to the service. 
They all follow their leader in single file 
and exercise the utmost caution to avoid 
striking their pack against any object 
that may be near the path. 

In the autumn of 1803 Joseph Eakins 
arrived with his family at New Market. 
He was an Irishman and left that coun- 
try for a home in the United States in 
August, 1801. Immediately on his arri- 
val m America, he set out for Pittsburg, 
where he remained about a year, but 
feeling anxious to share the advantages 
so bounteously promised by the fame of 
the rich lands of the new State of Ohio, 
he packed up and started down the 
river to Manchester. He only remained 
a short time at this place before setting 
out to the thriving settlement of New 
Market. Previous to his departure from 
Pittsburg he had purchased three hun- 
dred and fifty acres of land near the new 
village on which he proposed to settle. 
When he arrived at New Market he 
could find nothing better to live in than 
a camp, but he speedily erected a cabin 
for his wife and children. Mr. Eakins 
was a man of wealth and totally unpre- 
pared for roughing it in the bush. He 
had brought some groceries, tea, coffee, 
&c., from Pittsburg, and a barrel of flour 
from Manchester, out when they were 
out, starvation seemed almost inevitable, 
as a supply could not readily be had. 
The family could not make corn bread, 
nor eat it when made. Mrs. Eakins was 
greatly down hearted and discouraged 
with the prospect in the new country, 
and wept over her afflictions. Just at 
this time James B. Finley entered her 
cabin, rough, ragged, dirty, and a little 
drunk, fie asked Mrs. E. what was the 
matter. She told him in true Irish elo- 
quence her grievances, depicting in 
heart-rending language the horrors 
that surrounded her. Finley told her 
to cheer up, and he would go to work 
and make some corn bread that he knew 
she and the children could eat. She 
was astonished, but permitted him to 
have his way. So he washed his hands, 
got the meal and cut a piece of lard from 
a fresh killed hog that Mr. E. had just 
bought of Samuel Evans, rendered it out 



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in a pot, then put it into the dish of after he became a distinguished preach- 
meal, put in salt and mixed it with er, with Mrs. E. and her daughter, Mrs. 
water ; he then made a smooth jonny St. Clair Ross* about the Jim Finleys he 
cake board, spread on the dough and introduced to the Irish emigrants at 
baked it in the usual way before the fire. New Market to keep them from starving. 
When it was done, Mrs. E. and her Mr. E&kins only remained in New Mar- 
children thought it delicious. This kind ket until he could have necessary houses 
of bread, became a great favorite, and built on his land and some of it put into* 
they always called it Jim Finley bread cultivation, Jie then moved upon* it., 
afterwards. Finley had many a laugh 



o — • — 

CHAPTER XX. 

EDWARD TIFFIN, THE FIRST GOVERNOR OF OHIO, ENTERS UPON HIS DUTIES*. 
AND THE FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETS AT CHILLICOTHE, ROSS. 
COUNTY BEING REPRESENTED BY NATHANIEL MASSIE -EZEKIEL KELLY* 
1 SETTLES ON ROCKY FORK, AND ASSISTS IN THE ERECTION OF THE FIRST* 
HOUSE IN HILLSBORO— SAMUEL GIBSON AND HIS REMARKABLE MILL — 
JUDGE MOONEY, THE PIONEER SCHOOL-MASTER -THE GROWTH OF GREEN- 
FIELD, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF SOME OF ITS EARLY TAVERNS AND* 
OTHER BUSINESS ENTERPRISES— EDOM RATCLIFF, ROBERT BRANSON, JOB. 
HAIGH, GEORGE GALL AND OTHERS LOCATE IN DIFFERENT PARTS Olf 



THE COUNTY. 

On the 3rd of March, 1803, Edward 
Tiffin, who had been elected Governor 
of Ohio, under the State constitution 
adopted the previous winter, was sw'orn 
in and entered upon the duties of his 
office at Chillicothe. He had been 
President of the Convention that fram- 
ed the constitution, and shared in a 
large degree the confidence of the peo- 
le. The other members of that time- 
onored convention of honest and sensi- 
ble men, who did in twenty -five days 
what the united wisdom of the State 
fifty years afterwards utterly failed to 
accomplish in a convention which pro- 
tracted its labors to the enormous length 
of eight months— to-wit : they made a 
good constitution,— were from Adams 
county — Joseph Darlington, Israel Don- 
ftlson and Thomas Kirker — from Bel- 
mont county, James Caldwell and Elijah 
Woods ; Clermont county, Philip Gacth 
and James Sargent; Fairfield county, 
Henry Abrams and Emanuel Carpenter; 
Hamilton county, John W. Browne, 
Charles Willing Byrd, Francis Dunlavy, 
William Goforth, John Kitchel, Jere- 
miah Morrow, John Paul, John Billy, 
John Smith and John Wilson ; Jefferson 
county, Randolph Bair, George Hum- 
phrey, John Milligan, Nathan Upde- 
graff and Bezaleel Wells ; Ross county, 
Michael Baldwin, James Grubb, Nathan- 
iel Massie and Thomas Worthington; 
Trumbull county, DavW Abbott; $ud 



Samuel Huntington ; Washington coun- 
ty, Ephraim Cutler, Benjamin Ives Gill- 
man, John McIntyre and Rufus Put- 
man. Edward Tiffin was President 
this Convention and Thomas Scott Sec- 
retary. 

On the first of May, 1803, the county* 
of Warren was struck off from Hamiltoni 
and named for Gen. Joseph Warren,, 
who so gloriously fell at Bunker Hill.. 
Greene county was formed from Ross, 
county on the same day, (May 1st, 1803,). 
and named for Gen. Nathaniel Greene,, 
of the Revolution. 

The first General Assembly under the* 
State Constitution met at Chillicothe on* 
the 1st day of March, 1803. In this 
body Gen. Nathaniel Massie represented 
Ross, which still included what js now 
Highland county, in the Senate, and 
Elias Langham in the Lower House. 
Such laws were enacted during this ses- 
sion as were deemed necessary for the 
new' order of things. Eight new coun- 
ties were also established by the Legis- 
lature at this session, viz : Gallia, Scio- 
to, Franklin, Columbiana, Butler, 
Wayne, Greene and Montgomery. The 
first State officers elected by the Assem- 
bly were Michael Ballwine, Speaker of 
the House of Representatives ; Nathan- 
iel Massie, Speaker of the Senate ; Wil- 
liam Creight m, jr., Secretary of State ; 
Col. Thomas Gibson, Auditor ; William 
McRarland^ Treasurer \ Return J* Meigs, 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



Jr., Samuel Huntington and William 
Sprigg, Judges of the Supreme Court; 
Francis Dunlavy, Wyllys Stillman and 
Calvin Peas, Judges of the Common 
Pleas Courts ; John Smith and Thomas 
Worthington, Senators to Congress. 
The second session of the Legislature 
convened in December of the same year, 
at which the militia law was revised and 
a law passed to enable aliens to enjoy 
the same proprietary rights in Ohio as 
native citizens. The revenue system of 
the State was established at this session 
and acts passed providing for the incor- 
poration of townships, and the estab- 
lishment of Boards of County Commis- 
sioners. 

Jeremiah McLeane was the first 
Sheriff of Ross county and what is now 
Highland under the State organization. 
The settlers in a portion of Ross in and 
about New Market, on Whiteoak, Clear 
Creek, Turtle Creek, Rocky Fork and 
the East Fork of the Miami of course 
had to attend court at Chillicothe, either 
as parties, jurors or witnesses, more or 
less of them at every term. From the 
Davidson and Finley settlement on 
Whiteoak the distance is forty-five 
miles to Chillicothe. So when it be- 
come necessary to go to court, they, in 
the style with which necessity had made 
them familiar, shouldered their rifles, 
stowed away a supply of jonny cake and 
dried venison in their saddle bags and 
set out through the woods to the nearest 
direct trace. When they arrived at the 
court house they stacked their arms and 
having disposed of their horses were 
ready for business. 

In April, 1803, Ezekiel Kelly settled on 
the Little Rocky Fork, three miles south 
of Hillsboro, and commenced improving 
the farm on which he continued to re- 
side till his death. Mr. Kelley was a 
native of Maryland and emigrated to the 
vicinity of Chillicothe in the fall of 1798. 
The fever and ague in the rich bottoms 
of the Scioto finally«drove him out as 
well as many others, and he sought 
health among the oak hills of the Rocky 
Fork. Immediately east, and about a 
half mile from where he built his cabin 
and made his clearing near the banks of 
the creek, was one of the best deer licks 
in the country. For some years after he 
settled there he furnished several of his 
neighbors with venison as regularly as 
butchers do the people of the town with 
fresh beef. He had his day set for them 
to come and had the venison ready for 
them. This lick was frequented by a 
great many deer, and previous to this 
had been a place of resort for elks and 
buffalos. Mr. Kelley had prepared a 
good and comfortable" hiding place con- 



venient to the lick and in full view of 
it, from which he could select his deer 
out of, some times ten or fifteen, that 
would be under his eye at the same 
time. Mr. Kelley helped raise the first 
cabin, and consequently th& first house 
in the town of Hillsborough. Simon 
Kenton once encamped within half a 
mile or a mile of Kelley’s lick as early as 
1791, and shot a deer at it. Some thirty- 
five or forty years afterwards he came to 
this county to give evidence in regard to 
the lines and corners of a survey known 
as the Gibson survey. At that time hfe 
well remembered the lick, and after go- 
ing to it he took his course and went as 
far as he thought his encampment was 
from it. He then said he believed he 
was on the ground he had encamped 
upon in ’91. “If so,” he said, “after I 
returned from the lick on the evening I 
killed the deer, I stuck my tomahawk 
left handed into an ash sapling, which 
stood near the fire, and hung my shot- 
pouch on it.” He then took his knife 
and cut the bark and wood off of the 
side of a small ash tree and found the 
mark of the tomahawk, which was re- 
garded as conclusive evidence on the 
subject in dispute. Kenton never had 
been there but the one time before and 
that only to encamp during the night. 
Such is the memory of a thorough 
woodman of the early pioneer days. 

Jonathan Berryman was doubtless the 
first to take steps towards rearing an 
orchard of fruit trees in the present 
county of Highland. He brought with 
him from Jersey a careful selection of 
apple and peach seeds. The apple seeds 
he planted almost immediately on his 
arrival, and being impressed with the 
belief that they would not do well unless 
they were bedded in manure from a 
cow yard, and knowing that none of the 
essential could be obtained in the new 
settlement at New Market, as early as 
the fall of ’99, he took with him a small 
sack full from Manchester. Thus pro- 
vided he planted his apple seeds and 
had the gratification in due course of 
time of furnishing the neighborhood 
with fruit trees from his nursery. He 
also had the first bearing appletrees in 
the county. The peach seeds which he 
lan ted grew and in four or five years 
ore abundant and most delicious fruit. 
Mr. B. also cultivated bees and within a 
few years from the time he unloaded his 
wagon in the woods south of the town 
plat of New Market, his farm presented 
a most inviting appearance. 

In the fall of 1803 Samuel Gibson 
moved with his family from Mason 
county, Kentucky, and settled on the 
Rocky Fork three miles southeast of the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



resent town of Hillsborough. His land 
ad been entered by Simon Kenton in 
1791, and surveyed some seven years af- 
terwards. Mr. Gibson had made some 
necessary preparations on his land for 
the accommodation of his family prior 
to moving. The year following, feeling 
the necessity ot a mill, he went to work 
and fixed up a small tub-mill near the 
place where Bishir’s saw mill now 
stands. This was a mere temporary af- 
fair of a corn-cracker, but was doubtless 
the first on the creek. There used to be 
some rather ludicrous stories told in re- 
lation to this mill, one of which is that 
it ground so very slow that after the 
miller threw grain in the hopper in the 
morning he could leave it for a good 
portion of the day, starting the mill and 
setting it at a proper gauge. In his ab- 
sence, the story goes, the ground squir- 
rels would come into the mill and take 
a position at the point of the shoe which 
fed the stones and catched the corn as 
it fell and before it .entered the eye, 
when one got his jaws full he would 
“take his turn at the mill.” So when 
the miller returned the grist was gener- 
ally gone and the mill clattering away 
but comparatively no meal in the chest. 
Occasionally a crowd of squirrels around 
the eye, would cause some poor fellow 
to fall in, in which case he was then 
bound to go through and come out, not 
exactly meal, but a dead squirrel and 
with the, or instead of, the meal. After 
the discovery was made as to the thiev- 
ish propensities of the squirrels, the 
miller was obliged to stay constantly at 
the mill to watch them off, and then fre- 
quently they would attack the bags in 
the upper part of the mill, filled with 
corn and awaiting their turn, and cut 
holes in them and rob them of much of 
their contents. With all this precaution 
it was not an unfrequent thing when a 
sack of meal was taken home from this 
mill and opened to be sifted for mush or 
jonny cake to find the remains of a 
mashed squirrel or rat. This mill, after 
nigling along at this rate for a few years, 
was finally washed away by a great 
flood, after which a somewhat better 
structure was got up, but it was not very 
popular and could not be relied on in 
dry or wet times. Mr. G. seemed unable 
to get a dam to answer the full purpose 
of saving the water, and almost every 
freshet that came broke it and rendered 
the mill useless for a considerable time ; 
generally till the neighbors would turn 
out and help him repair it. The point 
has, however, been occupied by a mill 
of some kind from that time to the pres- 
ent. Mr. G. had been a revolutionary 
soldier in his youth, and being an early 



settler in Kentucky participated in the 
border wars with the Indians. The land 
on which he lived and died in Ohio, was 
entered on warrants received for services 
in the Continental Line. The entry was 
defective and the latter years of the old 
man were embittered by a series of al- 
most interminable law suits to settle the 
title and he finally, like many others of 
the early settlers, had to buy his own 
land in order to be permitted to close 
his days in peace at his own hearth- 
stone. 

The first school that we have any in- 
timation of in or about the town of 
Greenfield was kept in a little old cabin 
outside of the town plat by Judge 
Mooney about 1803 or 1804, and no 
house was erected in the town for the 
purpose of a school house until 1810. 
This was built out of round poles or 
logs and covered with clapboards. A 
place was cut out for a door and a log 
out of each side for windows. The 
building was about sixteen feet square, 
one-half of the floor of which was laid 
with puncheons, the other half, adja- 
cent to the fire place, which occupied 
one whole end, was naked earth. 
Broad rails with legs were used for 
benches. This school house stood near 
the northwest corner of out lot No. 16, 
which Thomas Boyd afterwards own- 
ed. Mr. B. went to school in this house 
in the fall and winter of 1814, till it got 
so cold that they froze out the fore part 
of January, 1815. Shortly after this 
(1815) there was a tolerably large hewed 
log school house built on the ground 
now enclosed and used as a graveyard. 
This house was used as a school house 
till about 1837. About that time James 
Anderson and Thomas Boyd were em- 
ployed to build two frame school houses, 
which were used for a number of years. 
During all this time, however, schools 
were frequently kept in private houses. 
In 1845 the fine stone ^Academy was 
erected and successfully used for a 
seminary for several years. The 
school outfit for a boy in those old times 
was very trifling. Shirt and pants, in 
summer, of tow linen, and in winter, of 
linsey— wool hat. Bare feet from April 
to December — after that* heavy cow- 
skin shoes— frequently both knees and 
elbows through pants and coat. Small 
blue-black spelling book, Webster's— 
Pike’s arithmetic and frequently a 
piece of slate— a sheet or two of coarse 
paper, and a little red potter’s ware ink 
holder, filled with ink made of maple 
bark, and with nothing more many of 
the boys and young men of that day 
graduated; and strange as it may seem 
to the fortunate ana bountifully sup- 



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A HISTOZY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , , OHIO. 8? 



plied youth of the present day, became 
useful citizens in the various depart- 
ments of public service— went to the 
Legislature or Congress with credit to 
themselves and benefit to the public- 
men tried to be both useful and honest 
in those days when intrusted by their 
fellow citizens with public duties. 
Many of those early time young men, 
whose every hour at school did not ex- 
ceed three months, during some winters 
when farm work could not be attended 
to, have, on that slender foundation, 
filled offices of almost every grade, from 
Governor down, and filled them with 
dignity and honor. Thus demonstrat- 
ing that it is not so much the school 
that makes the man, as that it is the 
man who makes himself so far as his 
moral and intellectual development are 
concerned. 

Greenfield does not seem to have im- 
proved much for $ome years after the 
first settlement, and up to 1814 the 
town plat in the language of one of its 
most worthy citizens, was green enough. 
At that date a large amount of the lots 
were in woods— hazel thickets; green- 
brier and grapevines covering them. 
A portion only was in cultivation. 
The first tavern of any note in the town 
was built about 1804 and kept by Fran- 
cis P. Nott. Others had kept apologies 
for houses of entertainment for a short 
time while they could get something to 
eat and a keg of v whisky. A Mr. Sim- 
mons also kept tavern in town. He 
was succeeded by Noble Crawford, who 
built the first stone house in the town 
and occupied it as a tavern. It was 
also occupied by others after him for 
the same purpose. This house also was 
owned by T. McGarraugh, and if the 
covering could be removed from over 
the door arch, which has been there for 
many years, we might be able to decide 
as to the date of its erection, for there, 
it is said, is cut in the solid rock “Trav- 
elers Rest, ,f by Noble Crawford, A. D. 
18—. The date is believed to be 1812. 
The first blacksmith in the town was 
started in 1807 by Joseph Bell, and the 
first hatter shop about the same time by 
Josiah Bell. The first tannery was 
started by Samuel Smith in 1812. In 
the spring of 1814 David Bonner put in 
operation a wool carding machine and 
soon after, cotton machinery, but this 
part of the works did not pay and was 
abandoned. Wm. Robbins was the first 
cabinet maker in the town and Edward 
Leonard the first tailor. 

Between 1800 and 1805 settlements 
were made by Jonathan Wright, George 
Heath, John Buck, John Kingrey, (who 
built the first grist mill on main Paint 



Creek in Highland,) Nathaniel Burnet, 
James Mooney, Samuel Mooney, on the 
waters of Buckskin Creek. John 
Robins, Abraham Dean, James Ed- 
wards, David Edminson, Robert Ed- 
minson, J ohn Wallace, Robert Wallace, 
Samuel Davis, Benjamin Brackney, 
Michael Hare, John Bryant, Jacob 
Davis, Jacob Hare, Alexander Scroggs, 
William Smith, Thomas Ellis, Mordecai 
Ellis, James Fisher, Samuel Littler, 
Demsy Caps, who settled on main Paint 
chiefly and in the Greenfield neighbor- 
hood. 

Much has been said of the different 
modes of hunting in the early days of 
this county. An early pioneer and 
hunter has furnished us with the fol- 
lowing novel description of fire hunt- 
i ng as it is by some called. He says, 
“in the summer when meat was scarce, 
mother would tell us in the morning to 
quit work in time to go-to a lick or 
down on Paint to get some venison. 
We would go down and encamp— span- 
cel our horses, hunt a nice hickory tree 
and lean an Indian ladder against it. 
One would then climb up eight or ten 
feet and hack it round with a toma- 
hawk and split the bark part of the way 
down, so as to be reached from the 
ground. Then we would peal the whole 
of the bark off in one piece to the 
ground, cut holes with the tomahawk, 
press it open and prop it with a stick 
near enough each end so as to turn it 
up. We then took off a little of . the 
rough bark outside and bent the ends 
up and tied them fast with bark. We 
then placed a strong piece of 'bark up- 
right in the bow of the canoe— for it is 
an Indian bark canoe they have made 
—and placed in front of that a large 
candle, made by taking a dry spicewood 
stick and rolling beeswax around it. 
Behind this shade we would take our 
seats so the candle would not shine on 
us. The hunter would sit immediately 
behind the bark shade which had the 
candle in front it with his rifle across 
his lap. The steersman in the hind 
end of the canoe, with a small stick 
four feet long in his hand, would pole it 
gently through the water that the deer 
in mossing, as they always are during 
the warm weather, would not be alarm- 
ed. The light would attract their attend 
tion and as they could see nothing but 
it and hear no sound, they would stand 
like they were rooted to the earth, in 
mute amazement, gazing at it until we 
would glide within a few feet of them. 
When thus entirely certain of his aim 
the hunter would single out one and 
fire. In this way we easilv killed from 
two to five of a night. This hunting 



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63 A itlSTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 

was done in Paint. The noise of the received from their mothers: tridfied 



gun would scare the deer for a few 
moments, but we would glide on down 
the stream, and perhaps get another 
shot before we reached the point where 
we intended to stop. We would then 
take off our candle a short distance into 
the woods after making fast our canoe, 
build a little gnat fire to keep off the 
musquitoes and perhaps lie down and 
sleep an hour or two. Then we would 
start up again and thus in the course 
of the night we would pass up and down 
several times, and generally getting a 
shot every time and in the morning we 
returned with plenty of venison. 

During the fall of 1804 Edom Ratcliff 
with his family emigrated from Ran- 
dolph county, North Carolina, and set- 
tled on Turtle Creek in the present 
township of Union,* in Highland county, 
on the farm where Thomas Ratcliff re- 
sided until reeently. About the same 
time Robert Branson and family came 
from Virginia and settled on and im- 
proved the farm formerly owned by the 
Rev. James Quinn. Shortly after build- 
ing his cabin the family were very much 
annoyed by snakes crawling through the 
yard and about their spring. So terrify- 
ing were these things, that they were 
afraid to go for water after dark. After 
living in almost constant dread and fear 
for two or three years, Mr. Branson con- 
cluded there must be a den of snakes in 
the spring. So he called upon his 
neighbors, Robert McDaniel and his son 
John, and they went to work and quar- 
ried the rock at the head of the spring 
and killed about sixty rattlesnakes, 
which broke up the den and freed the 
family from annoyance and fear from 
them. 

In the spring of 1803 Job Haigh moved 
into the settlement on Brush Creek, near 
where the town of Belfast now stands, 
and made an improvement. In the 
course of a year afterwards there was 
preaching occasionally at his house, the 
first in tkat settlement. The preacher 
was a Mr. Leamons, a Baptist. There 
had been no attempt to get up a school 
and none was made for three or four 
years after. About the fall of 1806 the 
settlers concluded to try to raise a school. 
Accordingly they built a little cabin for 
the purpose in an out of • the way place 
in tne woods close to a spring. Their 
school teacher was a Mr. Benjamin 
Massey. Prior to this any one who 
wanted to school his sons sent them to 
West Union for two or three months 
during the winter, where they had es- 
tablished a small spelling, reading and 
writing school. As for the girls, they 
did without education, except what they 



they had but little time to think of any 
higher accomplishment than that of the 
wool cards, the spinning wheel and the 
loom, for on their industry depended not 
only the thrift of the domestic establish- 
ment, but to a great extent the comfort 
of the whole family in the way of cloth- 
es^ as all was made at home. They 
.raised flax for shirting, and to pall and 
prepare it for weaving generally de- 
volved upon the women folks. The cus- 
tom was to make flax pullings to which 
all the girls of the neighborhood were 
invited, and always attended in their 
best rig. They would commence work 
in the afternoon, six, eight or ten of 
them— nice rosy cheeked girls full of 
life and fun, and by sundown would have 
the patch pulled and nicely spread out 
lor curing. Sometimes a young beau or 
two would dress up in their Sundays, 
and volunteer to help for the pleasure 
of working by the side of a favorite lass. 
As a general thing some kind of a frolic 
was gotten up for the men folks at the 
same time. Chopping, grubbing or some 
useful employment— for in those days 
the early settlers, both men and women, 
never failed to make their social gather- 
ings serviceable in some way to some 
one— then in the evening when the girls 
were through with the flax and the 
young men with their work, they all 
met at supper. After this was over, 
they did not fail in satisfactory amuse- 
ments for the night, which was not un- 
frequently exhausted in dancing. These 
were truly the days of peace, health and 
happiness. These customs at flax pull- 
ings, choppings, log rollings, raisings, 
quiltings, &c ., continued until within a 
few years past in the less improved por- 
tions of the country. Sugar making was 
another time of frolic mingled with 
utility. 

The settlement in the vicinity of 
Sinking Springs received some acces- 
sions in 1804, but none the previous 
year. Jacob and Philip Roads, Peter 
Stults, Jacob Stults from Virginia, and 
Michael Snivley, from Pennsylvania, 
came that year. George Gall, a Rev- 
olutionary soldier, came from Virginia 
and settled in the neighborhood duriqg 
1801. Gall was born in Berks coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, June 28th, 1766, and 
was called into service from Rockbridge 
county, -Virginia. He was drafted ipto 
the militia, but was not called into ser- 
vice till the 10th of January, 1781, under 
Col. Boyer, and marched against the 
British through the Dismal Swamp. 
After this campaign, which seems not to 
have resulted in anything very definite 
or brilliant, he was discharged. On the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



2nd day of the following September, he 
was again drafted and marched immedi- 
ately to Yorktown,and was present at 
the surrender of the British army at that 
place. He then marched as a guard for 
the prisoners to the general military de- 
pot at Winchester, Virginia, after which 
he was discharged,* the war being over. 

In 1804 Samuel Shomaker built a water 
mill two milta west of Sinking Springs, 
on the East Fork of Brush Creek. The 
first water mill, or indeed mill of any 
description erected in that settlement, 
having been built the previous year by 
the Countrymans on the same water, 
two and one-half miles northwest of the 
spring. 



In the spring of 1802 George W. 
Barrere and family emigrated from Ken- 
tucky and settled at Anderson’s Prairie 
in the present county of Clinton. He 
remained there till the next fall, when 
he moved to New Market and opened a 
tavern on the post road through that 
town of log cabins in a house he pur- 
chased of J ohn E versole. It Was a hew- 
ed log house with cabin roof and only 
one room. Mr. Barrere soon after add- 
ed another room and fixed a kind of 
room up stairs, or, more properly speak- 
ing, up the ladder in the loft. «This 
house stood on the corner opposite 
Wishart’s old stand, and soon became 
the most popular hotel in the place. 



•o 



CHAPTER XXI. 



CAPTAIN JAMES TRIMBLE’S SECOND VISIT TO HIGHLAND— REV. EDWARD 
CHANEY AND HIS MISSIONARY WORK AMONG THE INDIANS— “SPLITTING 
RAILS” ON THE PRESENT SITE <JF HILLSBORO— STRUGGLES AND PRIVA- 
TIONS OF THE EVANS AND HILL FAMILIES TO EFFECT A PERMANENT 
SETTLEMENT ON CLEAR CREEK- CYRUS BLOUNT, GEORGE NICHOLS, 
JOSEPH KNOX, GEORGE HOBSON, MATTHEW KILGORE, WM. KILLBOURN, 
SAMUEL LITTLER AND JOSEPH W. SPARGUR MOVE INTO THE COUNTY. 



The second vi$it of Capt. James Trim- 
ble to the present county of Highland 
was made in company with his son 
Alien, in 1801. They crossed the Ohio 
River at Limestone, and traveled north 
over a kind of open trace, dignified by 
the title of road, to New Market. On 
the route that far, but two solitary 
cabins greeted their eyes. They spent 
the first night with JSquire Oliver Ross. 
They arrived at Capt. William Hill’s on 
Clear Creek the next day. The next 
morning a rather amusing and interest- 
ing incident occurred to Capt. Trimble. 
He started out to look for the lines of 
Thresh ley’s survey on Clear Creek, with 
his friend, Capt. Hill, as guide. Near 
their course through the woods they 
discovered an Indian encampment, 
which being remarked by Trimble, Hill 
asked him if he would like to be intro- 
duced to Captain John. He assented 
and they rode up to the camp. The In- 
dian was sitting down mending his moc- 
casin. He rose to receive the party re- 
spectfully and was introduced by Hill. 
“Captain John, this is Captain Trimble 
from Kentucky.” The Indian said 
nothing, but eyed Trimble keenly a 
moment and exclaimed in the peculiar 
guttural of the tribe, though intelligible 
enough— “Me know him very well— me 



Ottoe Roy, (meaning of that tribe) and 
go long with- Dickson— make him pris- 
oner-fight much white man,— make 
friends now.” Trimble asked the In- 
dian some questions. -about Dickson and 
the party that captured him, and was 
mucn surprised to find that Captain 
John was actually one of the party, and 
more surprised that, after a lapse of near 
thirty years he should recognize in the 
man* the mere boy he made prisoner in 
Augusta county, Virginia. It is but an- 
other evidence of the unerring instinct 
and wonderful memory of the Indian. 
Captain John told Trimble much about 
the country, who had thought of mak- 
ing his settlement on the Scioto bottoms 
as he, like all early settlers, was delight- 
ed with the promise of those rich lands. 
The Indian said “good hind— raise heep 
corn, but sick too much — (after rising up 
he went through a regular paroxysm of 
fever and ague, by way of impressing 
the idea). Indian come up here to hunt 
and get well— leave squaw to hoe com 
and shake with the ague.” This graph- 
ic sketch of the peculiar local advantages 
of Scioto lands, determined Capt. Trim- 
ble, perhaps, in favor of Highland, and 
accordingly he settled all the prelimin- 
aries and returned to Kentucky. He 
did not, however, find it convenient to 



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make another visit until 1803 or ’04, 
when he came out and built a cabin on 
his land and made some other slight im« 
rovements. Captain Trimble aid not) 
owever, live to enjoy the luxuries of 
his new home in Ohio. He returned to 
Kentucky intending to move over his 
family the following fall, but was fated 
never to leave the beautiful land of 
Kentucky. He died in the autumn of 
1804 of disease contracted by exposure 
and fatigue. 

Rev. Edward Chaney, with his family, 
emigrated from Bedford county. Penn* 
syl vania, and settled on the Hockhock- 
ing River, within the present State of 
Ohio, in 1797. Three or four years after- 
wards he removed to the present county 
of Highland and settled on Clear Creek, 
above the Evans settlement. The land 
on which he settled he had previously 
purchased. Mr. Chaney built a log 
cabin, such as was common in those 
days, and cleared out a corn patch. 
White neighbors were not numerous or 
very close together, but thief void in so- 
ciety was more than supplied, as far as 
Mr. Chaney and his family were con- 
cerned, by the presence of a large body 
of Wyandott Indians in the immediate 
vicinity. They were, however, compar- 
atively harmless, though by no means 
the most agreeable companions for a 
preacher of the gospel. But Mr. Chaney, 
in the true spirit of a Christian minister, 
soon induced them to come to his cabin 
to listen to him preach. They came fre- 
quently in large numbers. When their 
number was too large and the weather 
suitable he collected them around him 
in the adjacent grove. The Indians did 
not understand much of what he said 
but they understood sufficient to satisfy 
them that it was addressed to them on 
behalf of the Great Spirit, and they gave 
the utmost attention, keeping profound 
silence until the sermon closed, then 
rising in the most respectful and orderly 
manner, and, without uttering a word, 
walked off in single file to their encamp- 
ment in the beyond. The Indians ap- 
peared much pleased with Mr. Chaney 
and his family and the exchanges of 
civilities were of almost daily occurrence 
—the white children visiting the en- 
campment in perfect confidence and se- 
curity. On these visits they were 
obliged to eat something at every wig- 
wam or give offense. Mr. Chaney was 
the first Methodist preacher in that 
region. He belonged to the local minis- 
try and lived many years in this vicini- 
ty in the faithful discharge of his duties 
as a citizen and a religious teacher. 

Jesse Chaney, son of the Rev. Edward, 
was then a young man and assisted in 



making many of the early improvements 
of this county. There were no roads on 
Clear Creek in those days, except the 
trail of the Indian. All the “hands’? for 
miles around were required to. raise a 
cabin. Mr. J. Chaney speaks of having 
seen Capt James Trimble At one of these 
gatherings. He describes him as a tall, 
slender man, of fine appearance, and. of 
most pleasant and gentlemanly address. 
Mr. J. Chaney says he made the first 
hundred rails ever made on the ground 
where the town of Hillsborough now 
stands. These rails were made near the 
present corner of Main and West streets. 
He also built the first stable ever pot up 
in the place. This stable was built of 
small poles or saplings and stood near 
where the Ellicott House was afterwards 
built. 

Salmon Templin, who was also one of 
the party who went with Gen. Massie 
from Manchester in the spring of 1796 to 
make the settlement at Chillicothe, 
came up into what is now Highland 
county and Penn township, about the 
same time that his brothers, Robert and 
Tary, came to the Rocky Fork, (1801). 
He remained a permanent citizen of that 
vicinity, up to the day of his death. 

In the fall of 1801 Joe} Brown left Cul- 
pepper county, Virginia, for the State of 
Ohio, and arrived at his land bii the 
Rocky Fork, in the present county of 
Highland, in good season for. making all 
the needful preparations *fpr passing the 
winter., He erected his cabin on the 
face of the hill north of the creek, near 
where he afterwards established his per- 
manent residence. Mr. Brown was the 
pioneer settler on thajt portion of the 
creek, none having gone higher up than k 
where the West union road now cross- 
es. He was a member of the Society of 
Friends, and during his long life was 
highly esteemed by his neighbors. He 
early planted an orchard and cultivated 
good apples, of which he made cider,, 
perhaps the first of that wholesome bev- 
erage made in the county. Mr. Brown 
has been dead many years and his quaint 
looking, but pleasantly situated home- 
stead, has long since passed out of the 
hands of the family and fallen into 
ruins. , • ...... 

When the Evans settlement was made 
on Clear Creek, it was the pioneer* 
neighborhood north q! New Market. It 
was commenced, in . the spring, of 1799. 
by Hugh Evans and his sons and; eons* 
in-law. They built cabins, cleared 
grounded raised a small patch o>f corn. 
The next fall Samuel Evans and Villiam. 
Hill went back to Kentuckynnd brought 
out their families. That same fall Rich? 
ard Evans came over to his land and 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 91 



built ’k cabin, but made no other im- 
provements, and the next spring moved 
out hie familv. During the first year 
that Samuel iSvans and Hill built on 
the creek the Indians were the only 
neighbors they had. They were quite 
numerous and very sociable. The new 
settlers raised a “great crop of water- 
melons on the rich bottoms the first sum- 
mer, and when they ripened gave them 
freely to the Indian neighbors, who were 
delighted with them. They called them 
‘‘pumpkins/ 1 never before having seen 
watermelons. They did not fence in 
their corn patch the first years, there 
being nothing to fence against, except 
the deer and turkeys. The surrounding 
woods was* covered with wild rye, and 
afforded abundant and excellent pasture 
for horses and cattle ; so all these farm- 
ers had to do with their horses when 
they were not using them was to put 
bells on them and turn them loose in 
the woods to keep them fine and fat. 
The Indians continued for four or five 
years by far the most frequent visitors 
of the Clear Creek inhabitants. At one 
time, some months after Samuel Evans 
moved his family out and whilst he was 
away frorii home, % company of upwards 
of thirty Indians went to his house and 
asked for something to eat. Mrs. Evans 
went to work and prepared the best in 
the house for them. She sat the table 
in the customary way, but the old chief 
when he saw it, made signs to her, in- 
timating that it would not do them and 
that she must set it on the floor of the 
cabin. She Was alone and therefore 
verv much disposed to humor their 
whims. The plates, knives and forks, 
and provision were accordingly all 
movea onto the floor and the thirty odd 
Indians all took their seats around in a 
circle, flat down on the puncheons, and 
edmmenced, but they paid no kind of 
attention to the plates and knives and 
forks placed for their use. They were 
hungry, and waiving all ceremony 5 took 
hold with their fingers and made quick 
work with the abundant repast. When 
all were done they expressed in their 
best manner their thanks to Mrls. Evans 
ah d went peacefully away. 

Frequently 5 they' went to Samuel 
Evans to - buy corn, generally behaving 
very horiorably in the matter.' Once, 
howeve^ When Mr. E. Was away from 
home sevWal applied for sothe^ corny 
Mrs. E. WehtMnto th$ pen to measure it. 
While there she observed one Of the In* 
dians oh ;! the outside stealing corn 
through- k crack and putting it* in his 
sack.' 1 By the time she got through 
serving the others he had taken all he 
•wanted and mounted Ijis pony. She 



charged him with the theft, which he 
did not deny, and seemed entirely un- 
concerned about it. In hopes to scare 
him, she told him the next time he stole 
her corn she would have him sent to 
jail. At this he raised his gun and said, 
“Me shoot.” She became alarmed now 
herself and was glad to get rid of him. 

Noah Evans says their nearest neigh- 
bors were at New Market, except the 
Indians, and the Evans up the creek. 
The Indians came in in gangs hunting 
and Bugar making. The first intimation 
they would have of a company of them 
being in the vicinity would be the 
sound of the bells on their horses. 
After while some of them would make 
their appearance through the woods, 
one at a time, and probably an hour 
would elapse before all would come up. 
Sometimes the party would consist of 
only fifteen or twenty, while others 
would nuniber from fifty to a hundred 
• men, women, children, horses and dogs. 
The men and the squaws both rode in the 
same position. A rather singular mode 
of transporting their children, or 
pappooses as they called them,, was ob- 
servable. They never used wagons or 
any kind of vehicle to carry their bur- 
den from place to place. Ponies were 
their sole dependence and they managed 
to adapt them to all circumstances. 
Large leather sacks, somewhat on the 
plan of saddle-bags, were used for stow- 
ing away the pappooses on the backs of 
the ponies. They were thrown across 
the pony’s back and a couple of little 
boys or girls of near flhe same weight 
put one in each end with their heads out 
at the opening near the back of the 
pony. If in making up a load of 
pappooses they happened to have an odd 
Oiumber a dog of about the same weight 
was put in the other end with his head 
out, to balance the pappooses. This was 
not an unfrequent' case. Looking over a 
party just at a point, or on a general but 
temporary halt, one could see the little 
heads sticking out all around and often 
a dog’s head, all looking grave and sharp 
as almanac makers. They would camp 
by the creek and hunt and trap, or make 
sugar for some time — then away to some 
-other place. Mr. Evans says he once 
saw a party of these Indians seated at 
bis father’s table for dinner. Indians 
arercharacteristically dignified, courteous 
and 7 ceremonious. They have a great 
deSl of self-respect, and as a consequence 
never fail, when the recipients of hospi- 
tality, to treat with great deference and 
respect both their host and his peculiar 
manners and customs. In this instance 
they set gravely at the table for some 
momepts. They then tpok up the knife 

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and fork placed for each and looked at 
them curiously, then they looked in- 
quiringly at each other some time with- 
out speaking a word. Finally, however, 
their appetites, overcome by the odor of 
the savory dishes before them, dispelled 
their native desire to appear as gentle- 
men and they simultaneously dropped 
the knives and forks which they nad 
continued to hold, and laid hold of the 
meats with their fingers. These Indians 
were chiefly Shawnees and Wyandotts 
and were very friendly and hospitable 
in their way. If a white neighbor hap- 
pened to be at their camp whilst they 
were eating, they would not only invite 
him very cordially to partake, but would 
press him and seem half offended if he 
declined. 

Among the many exciting and dis- 
tressing occurrences, peculiar to a new 
and wilderness country, none was, per- 
haps, so appalling throughout the settle- 
ment as the announcement that a neigh- 
bor's child had got lost in the woods. 
This was not an unfrequent occurrence. 
As a general thing the parents and older 
portion of the chfldern were necessarily 
engaged in the hard work indispensable 
in the early days of the county, and as 
it was, of necessity, incumbent on all the 
members of the family, except the little 
fellow in his sugar trough cradle, to con- 
tribute something in the way of useful 
service to the common stock, the young- 
sters were employed in going errands to 
neighbors, frequently in remote settle- 
ments at busy times in the spring, sum- 
mer and fall, and always in hunting the 
cows and horses. Then in blackberiy 
time they were sent to gathes them. It 
was also their business as well as pleas- 
ure to gather the hazel nuts, hickory 
nuts and walnuts, &c. So they were 
necessarily much m the woods, which 
were then utterly destitute, not only of 
roads, but generally of traces. patKs or 
even “blazes” on the trees, which was 
the universal mode of marking courses 
through them. The consequence was 
that children, and even grown persons, 
frequently became “lost," and often had 
to remain out all night and sometimes 
longer before they were able to reach a 
cabin or discover their course hom^. In 
some instances though more serious con- 
sequences followed and the lost -were 
never found. The announcement, 
therefore, of a lost boy or girl always 
created great consternation in the neigh- 
borhood and all who could possibly 
leave home dropped everything and 
turned out to help hunt. 

Mr. Noah Evans says in the autumn 
of 1802 word was sent to the Clear Creek 
settlement from below New Market, on 



one branch of Whiteoak, that a child 
was lost in the woods and requesting 
help to hunt for it. All the settlers that 
could possibly leave home turned out 
and went to the place, each man taking 
his rifle. When they arrived at the 
place they formed companies and each 
company would stay and continue the 
search several days at a time, then re- 
turn home to see if all was well and do- 
ing well, then fix up and go back again 
and renew the search. This was a re- 
markable case and finally drew out all 
the people who could go for ten or 
twelve miles around. The hunters got 
oil the trail of the child and found signs 
of it for about fourteen days after it was 
first missed. The excitement was in- 
tense. Wild and ferocious beats inhab- 
ited the woods, tbe child was of course 
unprovided with anything to eat, except 
the berries and nuts it had capacity and 
understanding to gather, as it wandered 
about, and utterly incapable of defend- 
ing itself if attacked. The hunters fre- 
quently came to the bed of grass and 
leaves where it had spent the previous 
night and they had reason to believe 
that it frequently heard the voices add 
calls of its friends, vet was afraid to go 
to them or answer. They supposed it 
had become so thoroughly frightened 
and bewildered when it discovered that 
it w*as lost that it became afraid of 
everything and everybody. The search, 
after some three weeks effort, was finals 
ly given up. and the child was never 
found or heard of afterwards, and its 
fate remains unknown to this day. 

In the fall of 1803 Cyrus Blount came 
from below Chillicothe on the Scioto to 
Clear Creek in the present county of 
Highland, and, having purchased land, 
built a cabin and made the necessary 
preparations to move up his family. 
Having done this he returned for his 
family, but took the fever and died sooq 
after. His widow and children came up 
the next spring and took up their resi- 
dence in the cabin. The farm thus set- 
tled is the same now owned by William 
Barry. 

George Nichols settled on the farm 
which Isaac Simpson afterward 
owned in 1802. Joseph Knox came 
with him from Virginia and lived in 
bis family. Knox was a wheelwright 
and the first who carried on the busi- 
ness in the present county of Highland. 
The business of wheelwright at that 
day was a most useful occupation, as 
every cabin was considered incomplete 
without at least one spinning wheel, 
and many of the settlershaving packed 
out were necessarily destitute m this 
important particular. The exclusive 



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trade was in the hands of Knox for sev- 
eral years, until old George Hobson 
came out from North Carolina and 
erected a little shop near the mouth of 
Clear Creek. Hobson was a better 
workman than Knox and soon became 
celebrated for many miles around as a 
“little wheel and reel’* maker. They 
have both been dead, many years and 
with them the class of domestic imple- 
ments they manufactured, so common 
in early days in the humble log cabin, 
and so necessary to the comfort of its 
no less humble tenants. Who that was 
a child in Southern Ohio thirty-five or 
forty years ago, does not sometimes 
run his mind back to the long autumn 
evenings in the dear old log cabin on 
the hillside and see again the picture 
which thejglow of its ample fire in the 
large fire place in one end reveals ? The 
father busy in front mending shoes, 
the eldest boy pounding hominy, the 
mother spinning on the humming little 
wheel, while Sally cards, and the young- 
er boys and girls cracking; hickory nuts 
and building cob houses in the corner. 
And who of the sons apd daughters of 
the pioneers does not recollect witli 
swelling heart and moistened eyes that 
good old mother at whose feet, in com- 
pany with puss, he sunk down, tired 
with the constant running of the day, 
chasing out hogs from the field, watch- 
ing gaps, chopping wood, climbing 
trees for nuts or grapes, riding to mill, 
husking corn, &c., &c.,and was soothed 
into dream-land by her sweet and plain- 
tive song mingled with the ceaseless 
half bass of the little old wheel ? 

Matthew Kilgore moved into the 
present township of Madison and made 
some improvement on the farm known 
as the Adam B. Wilson farm as early 
as 1802. William Eallbourn settled on 
the farm afterwards owned by Samuel 
Douglass about 1803. Seth Smith made 
a settlement on the farm afterwards 
owned by W. P. Simmons’ heirs, on 
Wglnut Creek, in 1803, and the Ellises 
and Samuel Littler settled on Walnut 
Creek about 1804. 

In the fall of 1804 Thomas Colvin 
moved out from Kentucky and made a 
small improvement on the farm known 
as the old Shafer farm, about a mile 
east of the present village of Dauville. 
The following fall having bought other 
lands he built a cabin ou the peculiar 



mound, on which afterwards stood the 
dwelling of Caleb Chapman, four miles 
northwest of New Maiket, and improv- 
ed the place as far as the necessities of 
the times required, which was simply 
to clear and fence a corn patch. On 
this farm, which is among the best in 
that portion of the county, he spent the 
remainder of his days. When he set- 
tled there it was of course an unbroken 
wilderness and neighbors scarce and 
game and wild animals abundant. 

Joseph W. Spargur emigrated from 
Surry oounty, North Carolina, in the 
fall of 1804, and settled in the present 
county of Highland and on the farm 
known as the Odell place, southwest of 
the present town of New Petersburg, 
where he made the necessary improve- 
ments for the temporary comfort of 
his family. Mr. Spargur was a mill- 
wright by trade and followed his pro- 
fession when he could get employment. 
Game was plenty in that vicinity at 
that period and Indians were more fre- 
quently seen than whites. They were 
passing about almost daily, either 
singly or in small parties, and, as Mrs. 
Spargur had known nothing of them 
except by the manifold stones among 
the whites of the old States, of their 
savage and blood-thirsty nature and 
relentless hatred of the whites, it was 
but to be expected that she would be 
very fearful in tho absence of her 
husband. This settlement was made 
too, only a short time after the alarm 
occasioned by the murder of Capt. 
Herrod and Wa-will-a-way. So that 
she was greatly terrified by their pres- 
ence. At night when Mr. Spargur 
happened to be detained away ny his 
work, she barricaded the cabin in the 
best manner she could, and armed with 
two loaded rifies, an axe, butcher knife 
and dog, she only felt sufficiently se- 
cure to be able to sleep. Borter Sum- 
ner, Mr. Spargur ’s brother-in-law, came 
out to help him move and went back to 
Carolina the same fall. The next fall 
he moved his family out and settled 
down in what is now Paint township 
on the farm afterwards owned and oc- 
cupied by Daniel Miller. These settlers 
have been dead some years. Zur 
Combs came from Virginia and settled 
near the present town of New Peters- 
burg in J804- 



A 



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CHAPTER XXII. 

THE LEGISLATURE CREATES THE COUNTY OF HIGHLAND 7 AND ESTABLISHES 
ITS BOUNDARIES — F1R8T SESSION OF THE COMMON PLEAS COURT, WITH 
THE NAMES OF JUDGES AND JURYMEN— EXTRACTS FROM THE RECORDS— 
THE FIRST CHURCH IN BRUSHCREEK TOWNSHIP — JAMES CARLISLE A2£D 
IIIS CELEBRATED TOBACCO — PROCEEDINGS OF THE BOARD OE COUNTY 
COMMISSIONERS, AND RESULT OF THE ELECTION IN 1806— AN ANECDOTE 
OF JOHN GOSSETT, HIGHLAND’S FIRST REPRESENTATIVE IN THE LEGISLA- 
TURE-SURVEYING AND ESTABLISHING WAGON ROADS THROUGH ^HE 
COUNTY— THE FIRST SCHOOL IN UNION TOWNSHIP. 



On the 18th day of February, 1805, 
the Legislature of the State severed our 
connection with ltoss county by creat- 
ing a new county with the following 
boundaries: “Beginning at the twenty 
mile tree in the line between Adams 
and Clermont counties, which is run 
north from the mouth of Eagle Creek 
on the Ohio River; and running thence 
east twelve miles; thence northeasterly 
until it intersects the line which was 
run between the counties of Ross and 
Scioto and Adams at the eighteen mile 
tree on the Scioto River; thence north- 
erly to the mouth of the Rocky Fork of 
Faint Creek; thence up main Paint 
Creek, by the bed thereof, to the south 
line of Franklin county; thepce with 
said line west to the east line of Greene 
county; thence with said line south to 
to southeast corner of said county; 
thence with the south line thereof, west 
to the northwest comer of Clermont 
county and from the beginning west to 
the north fork of Whiteoak Creek; 
thence north to the south line of War- 
ren county; thence with said line east 
to the corner between Clermont and 
Warren counties.” 

This act took effect from and after 
the first day of May of that year. 

The county thus established was call- 
ed Highland because of its situation on 
the high land between the Scioto and 
Miami Rivers, and embraced in its 
legal boundaries all the county of 
Highland as it now appears on the 
map and about one-half of the present 
county of Fayette, and two-thirds of 
the present county of Clinton,— its 
northern boundary being the present 
northern boundary of Fayette as it now 
stands; the southern boundary of 
Franklin county being identical with 
the northern boundary of Fayette. 

This large territory was at the first 
organization of the county divided into 
four townships— New Market, Brush- 

194) 



creek, Liberty and Fairfield. New 
Market covered all the southern portion 
of the county from the Rocky Fork; 
Brushcreek the southeast and east; 
Liberty east and west frofn the present 
town of Hillsborough and extending 
north nearly to the present town of 
Samantha, while Fairfield included ah 
immense territory extending north to 
the Franklin county line. The exact 
boundaries of these original townships 
can not be given, for the reason that 
the records can not be found and it is 
said by old citizens that they were de- 
stroyed near fifty years ago. Efforts 
have also been made to find some map 
or outline of the surveys, but without 
success. 

The organization of Highland county 
ushers in a new efa in our history. It 
is not, however, claimed that it opera- 
ted to bring about any of the attend- 
ants of a revolution in the manners and 
customs of the people, or materially or 
at all changed their habits of life. 
Log cabins were still their castles, and 
the woods, with their wild inhabitants, 
surrounded them. They hunted, raised 
some coni, wore buckskin clothes or 
home made linsey or flax, as their taste 
or convenience or necessities required, 
and generally enjoyed life hugely. But 
the fact of a new county being organ- 
ized, brought into the public arena a 
new set or men not heretofore visible 
as “public men,” and infused an ener- 
gy and ambition Into others who ; had 
previously indulged in no other 
thoughts of distinction than to be reck- 
oned the best hunter or fighter, or 
whisky drinker in the settlement. A 

S ublic spirit was at once aroused. 

ten began to feel that they had some- 
thing else to do than raise corn suffi- 
cient for bread and hominy, or kill deer 
enough for meat for their families. 
They had been for three years citizens 
of a State, and their duties were 



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A fftSTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNT Y. OITIO. 9B 



brought closer to their homes by the 
erection of a county for them to organ- 
ize and sustain. They took hold of the 
work manfully and results haVe shown 
that they were fully equal to the task. 

After the creation of the county of 
Highland the same Legislature elected 
three Associate Judges for the new 
county, who held a special Court in the 
town of New Market, on Thursday, the 
16th day of May, 1806. These Judges 
were Richard Ryans, John- Davidson 
and Jonathan Berryman. They did no 
business at this time that appears on 
their record, except appoint David 
Hays clerk pro tern ., who took an oath 
of “allegiance and office” 

Soon after this special term a regular 
term tv as held at the same place, as ap- 
pears from the following extract from 
the records of said Court: 

“Be it remembered, that at a Court 
of Common PleaB began and held in the 
town of New Market, in the county of 
Highland, on Wednesday, the 12th day 
of June, one thousand eight hundred 
and UVe, being the first Court held un- 
der the Constitution of the State of 
Ohio, for the county aforesaid, on 
which day, being the day and place ap- 
pointed by an act organizing the Judi- 
cial Courts; present, the Honorable 
-Robert F. Slaughter, Esquire, Presi- 
dent, John Davidson and Jonathan 
Berryman, Esquires, Associate Judges. 
The Sheriff of this county returned the 
following persons as Grand Jurors from 
the body ot this county as follows: 
Samuel ^Gibson, William Hill, Amos 
Evans, John Creek, Benjamin Chaney, 
Terry Templin, Ezekiel Kelly, Jacob 
Metzjgar, William Boatman, Ebenezer 
Humble, Edward Carey, James Fitzpat- 
rick, John Gossett, Samuel McQuitty, 
Michael Metzer, Anthony Franklin and 
Christian Bloom; the Court appointed 
Samuel Gibson foreman. By an order 
of the Court, Abram J. Williams is ap- 
pointed Prosecutor for the county of 
Highland. The report of the Commis- 
sioners for fixing the seat of justice in 
theeounty of Highland, was this day 
handed in and ordered to he filed. The 
Court, adjourned until to-morrow morn- 
ing at 10 o’clock. 

♦♦Thursday, 18th, 1805. The Court 
met agreeable to adjournment— the 
same Judges as yesterday. The Court 
proceeded to appoint a County Survey- 
or, when Walter Craig was duly ap- 
pointed* The Court adjourned without 
day.’* 

No record now in existence that we 
are aware of gives any information as 
to who was the first Sheriff, farther 
than the following order of the Court 



of Common Pleas declares: 

“By order of the Court that Dan 
Evans, late Sheriff, be exonerated and 
his securities, which are William Hill 
and John B. Bails, from their bond 
given for the discharge of the duties of 
Sheriff.” 

This order was made on the 19th day 
of October, 1806. It ts, therefore, to be 
presumed that Dan Evans was the first 
Sheriff of Highland county, and that 
he held his office by appointment of the 
Court. 

The next record of this year, in regu- 
lar order, is: 

• “At a special Court of Common Pleas 
held in the town of New Market, in the 
county of Highland, on the 14th day of 
June, in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand eight hundred and five— present, 
John Davidson and Jonathan Berry- 
man, Esquires, Associate Judges; on 
which they proceeded to appoint a Re- 
corder for the county of Highland, and 
the said Associate Judges then and 
there appointed David Hays Recorder 
for said county/* 

The regular terms of the Common 
Pleas Court in Highland seem to have 
commenced in the same months in 
which they have uniformly continued 
to be held up to the present time. The 
record again reads: 

“At a Court of Common Pleas began 
and held in the town of New Market, 
in the county of Highland, on Friday, 
the 18th dav of October, one thousand 
eight hundred and five— present, the 
Honorable Robert F. Slaughter, 
Esquire, President, Richard Evans, 
John Davidson and Jonathan Berry- 
man, Esquires, Associate Judges. The 
Sheriff returned a Grand Jury, to-wit: 
Nicholas Robinson, foreman, Jonas 
Stafford, James Stafford, Jonathan 
Boyd, John Shields, Thomas Stites, 
Samuel Hindman, Isaac Leaman, Terry 
Templin, Elijah Kirkpatrick, Jacob 
Mitzgar, John Finley and Eli Collins.” 

The first case on the docket at this 
term, and indeed the first after the or- 
ganization of the county, as appears by 
the record, was “Collins vs. Kerr-* 
Robert Huston and Oliver Ross special 
bail.” The next order on the journal 
of the Court is, “By order of the Court, 
that Mountain Lucket receive a certifi- 
cate to retail merchandise for three 
months, and Frederick Miller a certifi- 
cate to retail merchandise for four 
months; and also Jonathan Berryman 
to keep a tavern in the town of New 
Market.” 

The first Stkte case which appears on 
the docket of this Court is, the “State 
of Ohio vs. Charity Collins. The de- 



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98 a History op highland county > onra 



fendant was called and saved her 
recognisance and was therefore dis- 
charged.^ It does not appear what 
crime or offense the accused had been 
guilty of. Next comes the “State of 
Ohio vs. Isaac Collins,” after which is 
the entry, “the defendant was called 
and saved his recognisance. The Court 
ordered that Isaac Collins be bound *for 
his good behavior by giving two secure 
ities in the sum of one hundred dollars 
each, that is Robert Huston and Oliver 
Ross.” No disposition appears to have 
been made ot the next criminal case on 
the docket. It reads, “State of Ohio vs. 
Isaac Collins. John Potter attended 
two days ah a witness.” “State of Ohio 
vs. A. Watson— presented— Grand Jury 
found no bill.” “The Court adjourned 
until to-morrow morning. Saturday, 
the 19th of October, 1806. The Court 
met agreeable to adjournment. Pres- 
ent, the Honorable Robert F. Slaugh- 
ter, President, John Davidson and 
Jonathan Berryman, Esquires, Associ- 
ate Judges. On motion of George W. 
Barrere and Ebenezer Hamel letters of 
administration were granted to them. 
Ordered that Robert Huston, William 
Boatman and Lewis Gibler be appoints 
ed appraisers to appraise the goods, 
chattels, rights and credits of Alexan- 
der Sanderson, deceased, and they are 
required to make Teturn to the Clerk's 
Office according to law. By order of 
the Court that Gebrge W. Barrere re- 
ceive ' a certificate to keep a public 
house for one year by paying into the 
county treasury eight dollars; and also 
Thomas Dick a certificate to keep a 
public house in Brushcreek township 
for one year by paying into the county 
treasury six dollars. The Court pro- 
ceeded to appoint a Clerk, when David 
Hays was duly appointed Clerk to the 
Court of Common Pleas for the county 
of Highland, who took the oath of 
the office pursuant to law and gave 
bond with surety, which were Approved 
by the Court. Court adjourned with- 
out day.” 

This closes the business of the first 
October term of the Highland Com- 
mon Pleas. The county seat had been 
only temporarily established at New 
Market, and that chiefly because there 
was no other point any where near the 
center at all suitable for doing the 
business of the county. Of course there 
was no Court House in the town and 
few or none of any other description 
capable of containing the Court and all 
attending upon its sittings. A gentle- 
man of New Market speaking on the 
subject, says: “The Court House in 
which the first Court was held was like 



‘Milton’s limbo,’ large and wide, it be* 
ing the thick shade of an endless for- 
est. The Judges, seated on a long 
bench made of a puncheon, supported 
themselves under the weight of their 
new dignities with becoming meekness. 
But the Sheriff found great difficulty 
in preserving order throughout the 
Court room, and one man, more daring 
than his fellows, rode up beneath the 
very noses of the Court, and, bottle in 
hand, asked them to take a *30011;’ with 
him. The Court ordered the Sheriff to 
take that naan into custody .but thefieet- 
ness of his horse elnabled him to elude 
the officer. Five or six fights took 
place the first day in the very midst of 
the templeof justice.” 

In the summer of 1804 John Fish- 
back, a revolutionary soldier, emigrat- 
ed from Pennsylvania and settled in 
the neighborhood of Sinking Springs, 
in the present county of Highland. 

The first church in the township of 
Brushcreek, in Highland county, was 
erected by the followers of Martin 
Luther in the year 1806. >This church 
was located about three miles northeast 
of Sinking- Springs. It Was built of 
hewed logs and is yet standing. 

Daniel Inskeep emigrated with his 
family from Culpepper county, Vir- 
ginia, to. Ross county, Ohio, in 1804, and 
to the county of Highland in the spring 
of 1806. He settled on the Rocky Fork, 
two miles west of the present town of 
Hillsborough,. and proceeded to im- 
prove the farm on which he resided 
more than forty years. Mr. InBkeep 
was a local preacher of the Methodist 
denomination and a most estimable 
man. He added T to his other useful 
avocations that of saddletree maker, 
and was doubtless the first of that call- 
ing in the county. 

The same spring came James John- 
son from North Carolina, and settled 
on the farm owned and occupied by hia 
son, Capt. Thomas M. Johnson, in the 
present township of Penn. In moving 
out they passed through New Market, 
and had to cut their way for their 
wagons through the site of the present 
town of Hillsborough. Near the place 
where Patterson’s mill now Stands, as 
they passed along, one of the wagoners, 
named McDorman, took a rile and 
branched out on the side of the route 
to hunt. He soon came in sight of 
some horses grazing and beyond them 
about thirty yards was a deer feeding 
very composedly. He could only see It, 
however, under the belly of one of the 
horses, and he was afraid to shift his po- 
sition lest he might alarm it; so he fired 
away under the nelly of the horse and 



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A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 97 



killed the deer* He carried it to the 
wagons and put it into one of the feed 
troughs. They carried it on till they 
arrived at Samuel Evans*, where they 
Skinned and dressed it. Johnson went 
bn to N. Pope’s, where he left his family 
and property till he looked around for 
land to suit him. In the course of a 
Week he selected his farm and purchas- 
ing it, commenced the necessary im- 
provements. It was, of course, in the 
woods and the settlement made by 
Johnson was the first in that neighbor- 
hood, and the Evans settlement on 
Clear Creek was their nearest neigh- 
bors, except Salmon Templin, who lived 
Within about two miles. 

In the fell of 1805 William Williams 
en&igrated from Guildford county, 
North Carolina, near “Dobson’s Cross 
Rqads and Beard’s hatter shop,” and 
settled in the present township of 
Penn, in this county. The same fall 
came James and Jacob Griffin, Jarvis 
Stafford and his sons Bhadrach, James 
and Jonas, John Matthews and Alex- 
ander Starr, all from North Carolina, 
and settled in the vicinity of Johnson. 
Matthews and the Staffords camped at 
a spring near the residence of Edwin 
Arthur, a short distance west of the 
present village of Samantha, two or 
three weeks till they found lands to 
su&them. These settlers were pretty 
much all of the Quaker denomination 
and made most excellent citizens. 

During the fall of the same year 
Allen Trimble, with his mother, five 
brothers and two sisters, moved from 
Woodford county, Ky., and settled on a 
farm afterward owned and occupied by 
James A. Trimble on Clear Creek. 
They found the cabin built by Capt. 
James Trimble three years before in 
reasonably good condition for a habita- 
tion and they entered into possession of 
it and made it their home for many 
years. 

The same fall William Keys, with his 
mother, three brothers and three sisters 
arrived from Virginia and settled on 
Fall Creek, five miles north of the pres- 
ent town of Hillsborough. 

James Carlisle emigrated from 
Loudon county, Virginia, in 1800, to* 
the neighborhood of Chillicothe, and 
removed from there to Highland coun- 
ty in June, 1805. John Richards came 
with him. Carlisle settled on the farm 
afterwards owned and occupied by his 
son Beaty, where he continued to re- 
side till his death in 1832. Carlisle was 
a celebrated tobacco planter and manu- 
facturer. He was probably the first 
who made a regular business of it, 
which he commenced in 1805, and con- 



tinued to the day of his death. His 
manufacture of tobacco was for many 
years pretty much the only kind in use 
throughout most of Southern Ohio, and 
was as confidently called for in the 
stores as is now cavenish or six plug. 
It was put up in large twists of two or 
more pounds in weight and was ex- 
ceedingly strong. The Carlisles lived in 
a camp for about six months after they 
came to their land. Mr. Carlisle erect- 
ed his cabin on a hill overlooking the 
bottom to the north. This hill was 
much infested with rattle snakes at 
that time and they killed large num- 
bers. About a year after he settled 
there, during the summer season, when 
the tobacco needed attention, the fami- 
ly left home one day, leaving John and 
James Carlisle, lads of eight and six 
years of age, to work in the tobacco 
patch. They were engaged in sucker- 
mg the plants, beginningat the top and 
running their hands to the lower leaves, 
detecting the suckers by their touch, 
when James cried out that he was bit- 
ten by a rattle snake. The snake had 
been coiled up under the lower leaves 
of the plant, unperceived by the lad. 
This was a most alarming condition for 
the boys. They were well aware of the 
fat|d effects of the bite, but did not 
know what to do and there were none 
near to adviSe them. But James, with the 
courage of a true backwoods boy, rapid- 
ly settled in his own mind the course 
to be pursued. They had taken an old 
dull tomahawk out with them for some 
purpose and James peremptorily order- 
ed his brother John to take it and cut 
his hand off, at the same time laying it 
on a stump and pointing to the place 
where it was to be cut at the wrist. 
This, John positively refused to do, 
giving as his reason that the tomahawk 
was too dull. This was no time to dis- 
cuss the matter, and James could not 
cut it himself, so they compromised on 
the wounded finger, which John con- 
sented to cut off. It had already turn- 
ed black and swollen very much. John 
made several ineffectual efforts to cut 
off the finger which was the first finger 
of the right hand, but only hacked and 
bruised it. James, however, held it 
steady and encouraged his brother to 
proceed, saying it must come off or he 
should soon die. John finally got it 
hacked off, but in his fright and anxie- 
ty he cut off the thumb also, this, how- 
ever, not being affected bvthe poison, 
was replaced by Gus Richards, who 
was something of a surgeon and it 
finally grew on again. Mr. James Car- 
lisle is yet living in Missouri, and 
there are hundreds of the citizens of 



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98 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



this county who well recollect seeing 
his mutilated hand and have heard the 
story of it. 

The cabin built • by Mr. Carlisle was 
of round logs and they spent a year or 
two in it without making all the cracks 
tight with chunks and daubing. Dur- 
ing the second summer they had a 
kind of shed out of doors for cooking 
purposes, and candles and oil being 
scarce they generally went to bed in 
the cabin without light. One night 
the family had all retired except Nan- 
nie, a girl about twelve or thirteen 
years old, who was to sleep with her 
mother that night in order to accom- 
( modate a guest who, owing to the 
scarcity of beds, had to sleep with Mr, 
Carlisle. They had been talking of 
snakes before they went to bed and 
when Nannie got in beside her mother 
and laid her head on the pillow she re- 
marked she felt something crawl under 
it, but she was told it was all fancy. 
After another minute or two she said 
she believed there was a snake under 
the pillow, but they laughed at her and 
told her she was thinking of the snake 
stories she had heard during the even- 
ing. She insisted, however, that there 
was something moving under her pil- 
low— -either a snake or a rat— and gytie 
would not lie there any longer, and ac- 
cordingly she raised her fiepd in the 
act of getting up, when something 
struck ner head, not unlike a whip. 
She leaped out of bed and cried she . was 
snake bit. The snake then rattled, and 
as it turned out had only struck Nan- 
nie with its tail in its efforts to extri- 
cate itself from beneath the pillow. 
The whole family were on the floor in 
an instant and the snake was heard 
rattling as he moved off towards one 
comer, making his escape. All was 
black darkness, but they managed to 
pursue the snake by the noise he made 
with his rattle and filially killed him in 
the yard. They supposed the snake 
had come in during the day and crept 
into the bed to take a nap. Nannie 
afterward married Thomas Buchanan. 

George Richards and Gus Richards 
came a short time before and Walter 
Craig and Michael Metzgar had settled 
on the waters of Rocky Fork, southeast 
of the present town of Hillsborough, 
some two or three years before Carlisle 
moved up. 

It does not appear from any record 
now existing whether the first Board of 
County Commissioners for Highland was 
elected or appointed* All is darkness as 
to how they came by their offices, but 
yet there was a Board which held a ses- 
sion as early as the 13th of June, 1805. 



Th% statute of February 13th, 1804, es- 
tablishing the Board, provided that the 
first election should be held on the first 
Monday of April for the first Commis- 
sioners— the Board to consist of three — 
one of whom would go out of office at 
the succeeding October election of each 
year, until all were elected for three 
years at the regular fall, election. But 
as the county, under the act establish- 
ing it, was not authorized to organize till 
the first day of May, 1805, it ia hardly 
presumable that the Commissioners 
were elected by the people tinder the 
statute on the first Monday of April. 

Under the Territorial law there was a 
corresponding Board of Commissioners, 
composed of “three able* relpectable 
and discreet freeholders, resident within 
the county,” who were appointed by 
the Justices of the Court of Qharter Ses- 
sions. This Court was composed of not 
less than three nor more than five Terri- 
torial Justices of the Peace. 

After the adoption of the State Con- 
stitution the Associate Judges took, un- 
der the law organizing the Common 
Pleas Courts, most of the duties relating 
to the business of the county, which had 
been discharged by thfe old Court of 
Quarter Sessions and it may be that they 
appointed the first Board of County 
Commissioners. But as there is no 
further light, speculation need not be 
indulged. 

At the meeting above named, the 
Board consisted of Joseph Swearingen, 
George Richards and Nathaniel Pope. 

The business transacted at the meet- 
ing was levying the county tax. This 
was as follows : Thirty cents per head for 
horses, &c.. ten cents a head oh cattle, 
and on all other property subject by 
law to taxation, one-half per cent. “Or- 
dered that any person obtaining a license 
or permit to keep a tavern in the town 
of New Market, shall pay the sum of 
eight dollars per year. Ordered, that 
any person receiving license or permit 
to keep a tavern on anv road in High- 
land county shall pay the sum of six 
dollars per year. ’ Ordered; that John 
Richards be and he is hereby appointed 
Treasurer of Highland couhty. Board 
of Commissioners adjourned until the 
first Monday of August next.* 1 

The above is copied from the first re- 
cord of proceedings of Highland county. 
This record was kept by their Clerk, 
which the statute creating the Board, 
authorized. The Board had power to 
appoint a Clerk, either from themselves 
or from the body of the county. It ap- 

ears from the record that Joseph 

wearingen acted as Clerk up to Octo- 
ber, 1805, for which he received one dol- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . # 99 

lar and seventy-five cents extra pay. township. On the organization of the 
The per diem of Commissioners then 0 o mmon Pleas Court this power was' 
being one dollar and seventy-five cents, vested in the Associate Judges of the 
At the next session there appears to gev eral counties. By an act passed 19th 
have been nothing done but make out 0 f February, 1804, the Listers were also 
the duplicates for the Listers 4 ‘according ma de collectors of the taxes in their 
to law,” and receive a bond from John respective townships. It is, therefore, 
Richards as Treasurer. The Board then probable that the collectors named in 
adjourned until the last Monday of the above extract from the Commission- 
Septemberfollowing, which seems, ac- ers > record, received their appointment 
cording to the record, to have come that from the Court. 

year (1805) on the 14th day of the The next order is dated Sept. 30th, 
month* At this meeting they ordered 1805, as follows: “Ordered, that Ebene- 
the County Surveyor “to proceed the zer Hamel receive an order on the Treas- 
thirtieth of this instant to run the urer for $3.75 tor praising taxable prop- 
boundary line of Highland county, be- v erty.” “Ordered, that James Walter, 
ginning At the twenty mile tree in the Samuel Evans, Esq., and Jesse Baldwin 
line of Adams and Clermont counties, proceed to view a road from Morgan 
which was run north from the mouth of VanMeter’s direct toward the falls of 
Eagle Creek, meanders of Paint Creek Paint Creek and James Johnson survey 
excepted.” The next meeting is thus the same.” Board adjourned until the 
recorded: “Monday, September 10th, igt of October. Met agreeable to ad- 
1805. Met agreeable to adjournment; journment. “Ordered, that Nathaniel 

S resent. Joseph Swearingen, George Pope receive an order on the Treasurer 
faharaaand Nathaniel Pope. Ordered, for seven dollars and fifty cents for six 
that Abraham Williams receive an order days* service as Lister for Liberty town- 
on the Treasurer for $20 for prosecuting ship. Ordered, that John Davidson, 
at the June term. Ordered, that Wil- Esq., Jacob Metzgar and William Boat- 
liam Saymore receive an order on the ma n proceed to view a road beginning 
Treasury for six days* services, twelve 0 n the old county line between Adams 
dollars, In fixing the seat of justice for and Ross, where the road from New 
Highland county. Ordered, that Joseph Market toward the mouth of Bracken, 
McCoy receive an order on the Treasury in Kentucky, entered said line, the near- 
for six days* services— twelve dollars— est and best way to the county line of 
in fixing the seat of justice for Highland Highland, on a direction towards the 
county. Whether or not these last road run from the mouth of Bracken to- 
named men were the Commissioners ap- wards New Market, and that Walter 
pointed by the Legislature for the pur- Craig survey the same.” “Ordered, that 
pose of establishing the county seat we Elijah Kirkpatrick receive an order on 
have rio means of knowing. According the Treasurer for thirteen dollars and 
to an act of the Legislature, passed seventy-five cents, as Lister for New 
March 28th, 1803, on the establishment Market township.” 
of any new county, three Commissioners On the second Tuesday of October, 
were 'to be appointed by a joint resolu- 1805, the first county election for High- 
tion of both Houses, whose duty it land was held in the several townships, 
should be to examine and determine New Market was the place of voting for 
what' part of ’the county was most eligi- that township ; William Hills 1 , on Clear 
v ble for the seat of justice. No person Creek, for Liberty ; Beverly Miller’s, on 
residing within the county could be ap- Hardin’s Creek, for Fairfield ; and Fred- 
pointed, nor any person owning lands erick Braucher’s tavern, in Brushcreek. 
within the county. These Commission- This election was held on the day fixed 
ers were to act under oath, receive from by the State Constitution and all the 
the County Treasury two dollars per day county officers made elective by the or- 
and report to the Court of Common ganic laws of the State appear then to 
Pleas sitting in the county. have been elected. The Sheriff and 

Grand Jiirynken at this time received Coroner had been, under the Territorial 
seventy-five cents per day. arrangement, dependent upon the Gov* 

At this time, (September 30th, 1805,) ernor for their ‘appointment, also the 
the bonds of. Nathaniel Pope and Elijah Justices of the Peace. These were, 
Kirkpatrick, collectors of taxes for the however, now, under the State organiza- 
eounty, -were received. How or by tion, made elective by the people and at 
whofcn thqse collectors were, appointed the election of this fall, Anthony Frank- 
the record does not show. lin was chosen Sheriff and Uriah Paul- 

Under the Territorial law the Court of lin, Coroner. 

General Quarter of the Peace, were em- An order on the Commissioners’ re- 
powered tp appoint Listers— ope of each cord of Highland county of the date of 

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# A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



November 4th, 1805, is found in these 
words : “In pursuance of an act passed 
by the General Assembly of the State of 
Ohio, to elect three Commissioners for 
the county of Highland, has duly elect- 
ed Nathaniel Pope, Jonathan Boyd and 
Frederick Braucner. Met this day (4th 
November) and proceeded. Ordered, 
that Jonathan Boyd be Secretary to the 
Board of Commissioners.” 

By an act passed April 16th, 1803, it 
was made the duty of tne Court of Com- 
mon Pleas of the several counties to es- 
tablish townships, each of which was to 
be an election district. The Court, or 
Associate Judges, were further required 
at their first term to name a certain 
house in each township, as nearly cen- 
tral as they thought proper, at which the 
electors should meet ana cast their bal- 
lots and the Sheriff of each county was 
required to procure at the expense of his 
county, boxes equal to the number of 
townships in his county and cause the 
same to be deposited at the places of 
holding elections, there to remain for the 
use of the electors. The Legislature 
further provided that the above named 
boxes thus provided should be of suffi- 
cient size to contain the ballots of the 
township in which it was deposited, and 
that it should have a lid secured with 
brass or iron hinges and a lock and key ; 
through the lid thereof, they required 
an aperture of a size calculated to admit 
a single ticket at a time and beneath it 
was to be placed an iron spring bolt, so 
as to close the aperture and exclude the 
admission of anything into the box after 
the close of the poll. 

At this election George W. Barrere 
was chosen Senator and John Gossett 
Representative to the State Legislature. 

By an act passed February 11th, 1804, 
apportioning the State for legislative 
purposes, it was provided that all newly 
erected counties should be classed with 
the original for the purpose of electing 
Senators. At the October election, 1805, 
Highland voted with Ross for Senator, 
ana independent for Representative. 
The returns of this election were requir- 
ed by the law to be forwarded to Chilli- 
cothe. 

An anecodate is told of the first mem- 
ber from Highland, which might bear 
repeating by way of illustrating to some 
extent these early times. Gossett was a 
very worthy, unassuming farmer, differ- 
ing in no essential particular from his 
pioneer neighbors. The era of the 
leather hunting shirt, breeches, mocca- 
sin and coon skm cap, had but recently 
given place to the home spun rig of bark- 
colorga linsey, wool hat and cow skin 
shoes, most frequently iqa<fa qf fair 



leather. In this style of costume— all 
new of course, and clean— our worthy 
first Representative to the Legislature 
made his appearance at the seat of gov- 
ernment. G, W. Barrere accompanied 
him. How he was dressed, tradition 
does not disclose, but the presumption 
is fair that the style did not materially 
differ from that of his colleague. They 
arrived at the capital, Chilucothe, and 
put up at the best hotel. Being fatigued 
with their long ride through the woods, 
they retired shortly after supper, haying 
given their shoes to the polite negro boy 
in attendance and received in lieu the 
customary old-fashioned slippers. In 
the morning they rose early and went 
dowty to the bar room. Barrere picked 
out nis shoes from the long row of nice- 
ly blacked shoes and boots arranged 
along one side of the room. Gossett 
also attempted to do the same, but could 
not see his shoes, bo he waited till the 
landlord came in. He then asked for 
his shoes. The landlord was busy wait- 
ing on thirety guests at the tflur and in 
reply pointed to the row against the 
wall. Gossett again examined with 
more care, but could not see his shoes. 
He was a quiet, modest man, and did 
not like to cause disturbance, so he con- 
cluded to wait till the black boy came in 
who had taken them the night before. 
After a while the boy came and Gossett 
took him to one side and made known 
his trouble, but the boy could give him 
no comfort. All the boots and shoes 
were there that had come to his bands 
he was sure, and farther he did not seem 
disposed to give information. Gossett 
began to grow uneasy. He half suspect- 
ed his were stolen, but he kept quiet till 
after breakfast and all the boots and 
shoes had been picked out and placed 
upon their owners feet, except one pair 
of heavy brogans. These he eyed close- 
ly, but they bore no resemblance to his. 
Finally, he determined to speak to the 
landlord again, for by this time he be- 
came fully convinced that he was the 
victim of some foul play. On his second 
and more emphatic announcement to the 
landlord that his shoes were missing and 
he suspected that they were stolen, the 
landlord became interested in the trou- 
bles of his guest. He told him all should 
be made right— that it should not be said 
that any man lost his property in his 
house— that he would get him another 
pair made as soon as possible, and in the 
mean time to try on that pair standing 
against the wall and if he could wear 
them to keep them on, as they seemed 
to have no owner, till he could have his 
measure taken and get another pair 
made. Qosaett accordingly ppt them oi> 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 101 



and found they fitted him exactly. He 
was surprised and examined them more 
closely, when to his astonishment they 
turned out to be own shoes, much dis- 
guised, however, by a heavy coat of 
blacking, the first that had ever been 
applied to their leather since it left the 
back of the cow from which it was taken. 
His shoes, as he parted with them the 
night before, were fair leather shoes, 
hence his failure to recognize them in 
the morning. 

Under an act, approved in January, 
1802, and afterwards adopted by the 
State Legislature, the inhabitants of each 
township were required to convene on 
the first Monday of April, yearly, at such 
place in their respective townships as 
might be ordered at the preceding meet* 
mg, and when so convened they were re- 

J uired to elect a chairman to preside, 
t was further declared to be their duty 
to elect a township clerk,, three or more 
trustees, two or more overseers of the 
poor, three fence viewers, two appraisers 
of bouses, and one lister of taxable prop- 
erty, a sufficient number of supervisors 
of roads, and one or more constables. 
The duties of these officers were about 
the same as at present and they held for 
one year. This act was the basis of the 
township organizations of this counfp. 

In April, 1803, an act was passed em- 
powering the Associate Judges to estab- 
lish townships and assign on the 10th 
day of May to each township a suitable 
number of Justices of the Peace, who 
were to be elected on the 21st day of 
June following, at such place in each 
township as the said Judges should di- 
rect. In accordance with this act it is 
presumble, in the absence of all record- 
ed information, Justices for Highland, 
were first chosen. We have been una- 
blej after much effort, to find any record 
which gives information in regard to the 
first Justices and we only speak from 
traditionary information. There is no 
doubt but that Bigger Head was the first 
Justice for Brushcreek township, George 
W. Barrere for New Market, Samuel 
Evans for Liberty, and James Johnson 
for Fairfield. Whether there were any 
more we are unable to ascertain. They 
held their offices as at present for the 
term of three years. The remainder of 
the first township offices are unknown 
either to record or tradition. 

During this year the County Commis- 
sioners of Highland county appear, by 
their record, to have given much atten- 
tion to laying out and opening up roans 
within the county. The surveys of the 
county boundaries were also made, as 
appears by the following orders ; (, Or* 
dered that \Valter Craig survey ^(\ 



certain the boundaries of the county of 
Highland according to law and orders.” 
This was made on the 2d of November, 
1805. “Ordered that Mareshah Llew- 
ellyn receive an order on the Treasurer 
for eighteen dollars for serving in sur- 
veying the county of Highland.” De- # 
cember 26th, 1805. From this it is pre- 
sumable that the survey was completed 
prior to this date. “Ordered that Enoch 
Smith receive an order on the Treasurer 
for seven dollars and fifty cents for serv- 
ing in surveying the county of High- 
land.” “Ordered that James Jolly re- 
ceive an order for eighteen dollars for 
serving in surveying the county of High- 
land. Ordered that Andrew Edgar re- 
ceive an order for six dollars for serving 
for surveying the county of Highland. 
Ordered that James Fenwick receive an 
order for two dollars for attending on the 
surveyors of Highland county, and an 
order for six dollars for six days carrying 
chain in surveying county*” “Ordered, 
December 26th, 1805, that Ezekiel Kelly 
receive ten dollars and fifty cents for 
carrrying chain round the county of 
Highland. Ordered that Robert Bran- 
son receive an order on the Treasurer 
for twenty-four dollars for serving in 
surveying the county of Highland. 

The “Anderson State Road,” which 
passes from Chillicothe to Cincinnati, 
through Highland county, was surveyed 
and opened under the superintendence 
of Col. Richard C. Anderson, by author- 
ity of the State, in 1804-5. It was cut 
out about forty feet wide and cost at an 
average of eighteen dollars per mile, the 
little bridging which was done excepted. 
This road is still open, though not much 
used. It is nearly on a straight line 
from the old Indian ford on Paint Creek 
to Cincinnati, and was at one time the 
great thoroughfare from east to west, 
connecting Zanesville and Cincinnati. 
There was a road laid out at an early 
day from Chillicothe to Maysville, 
through the Sunfish Hills. Israel Don- 
aldson was the Surveyor. This road 
was never much used and was always re- 
garded rather a failure. The “Old Col- 
lege Township Road” was laid out about 
1799. Gen. McArthur, Surveyor ; James 
Manary, William Rogers and Joseph 
Clark, Reviewers. It was afterwards es- 
tablished as a State road, date not 
known, and cut wider by contractors. 
The Surveyor was a Mr. Erwin. The 
roads opened this year, 1805, were chief- 
ly through New Market township and 
Fairfield. The town of New Market 
being the county seat, all county roads 
qf course had a direction either to that 
place or to connect vyith roads passing 
IQ or through it. 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO . 



Some other “orders’* are found on the 
record of the proceedings of the Com- 
missioners this year which contribute to 
throw some light on the times. “Order- 
ed that Elijah Kirkpatrick receive an 
order on the Treasurer for two dollars 
for killing an old wolf.” This was au- 
thorized by the statute for the purpose 
of protecting sheep. 

The first Representative of the people 
of Highland in Congress, after the adop- 
tion of the State Constitution, was Jere- 
miah Morrow. He was elected first in 
1803 to represent a large district, of 
which the present county of Highland 
was then a part. Afterwards, in 1805, 
he was re-elected and continued regular- 
ly to be chosen until 1813, when he was 
elected to the Senate of the United 
States. Mr. Morrow was a native of 
Pennsylvania, and emigrating to the 
resent State of Ohio at a very early 
ay, took an active part in the pioneer 
life of the times. He was very poor, 
and, without the aid and influence of 
others, he found the world before him, 
while in the first vigor and hope of 
early manhood, and he gradually, by his 
native good sense, honesty and industry 
achieved both fortune and fame. He 
settled in Warren county, where he con- 
tinued to reside up to the time of his 
death. No public man in Ohio was hon- 
ored with a larger share of public confi- 
dence. In 1850, when he was in Hills- 
borough in company with Gen. Harrison, 
he said the first time he went to Con- 
gress he camped out the first night be- 
tween his residence and Chillicothe. 
His camp was in Highland, but he did 
not recollect the precise point. 

The first Coroner of Highland was 
Amos Evans. This fact we are only, 
able to learn from an order of the Court 
of Common Pleas, made on the 26th day 
of February, 1806, by which it appears 
that “Amos Evans and his securities 



were exonerated from their bond as 
wherein Amos Evans was Coroner of 
the county of Highland.” This we 
think conclusive that he was Coroner 
before Paulin, who was elected at the 
October election, 1805, and consequent- 
ly the first Coroner of the county. 

In the fall of * 1805 Robert McDaniel, 
Nathaniel Walter, John Richardson, 
Amos Ratcliff, Thomas Cashatt, John 
Hammer and George Rains emigrated 
from North Carolina and settled within 
the present township of Union, in High- 
land county. Near the same time, John 
Shockley came from Maryland. Evan 
Chaney from Pennsylvania, ana James 
Marsh from Kentucky. Hammer set- 
tled on and improved the farm on which 
Robert Herron resided at his decease. 
Marsh improved the farm where Alex- 
ander Smith now lives, near Dunn’s 
Chapel, and donated one acre of land to 
the Baptist Church for the purpose of 
building a meeting house on. This is 
the same ground on which the Dunn’s 
Chapel now stands. The Baptists erect- 
ed a hewed log meeting house on it as 
early as 1809. 

The firet school taught in Union 
township was in a log cabin that stood 
on the farm occupied by Daniel Fox up 
to Tiis death. This was about 1807 or 
’08. The teacher was Aaron Walton. 

The Wyandotte Indians had an en- 
campment as late as 1804 on the branch 
beanng their name, and which flows in- 
to Clear. Creek near Stephen Fenner’s. 
This encampment was a short distance 
above where the Jamestown road cross- 
es the branch and on the land owned 
find occupied by Richard Fenner at the 
time of his death. 

John Strain came from Ross county to 
James B. Finley’s, on Whiteoak, as early 
as 1803 for the purpose of going to 
school. He remained m that region and 
married. 



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CHAPTER XXIII. 



DETAILING THE MASSACRE OB' THE JOLLY FAMILY, THE CAPTURE OF WM. 
JOLLY, AND HIS THRILLING ADVENTURES AMONG THE INDIANS, WITH 
THE EFFORTS OF HIS RELATIVES TO RESCUE HIM. 



Early in Jane, 1806, David Jolly and 
James Jolly, with their families, moved 
up from the vicinity of Chillicothe and 
settled on the Rocky Fork, east of the 
present town of HfllsDorough, on the 
farm recently owned by Mr. John 
H. Jolly. With them came their broth- 
er, William, and brother-in-law and sis- 
ter, William and Mary Ann Wamick. 
William Warnick died the following 
fall. The Jollys were among the first 
settlers of Chillicothe, having emigrated 
to that neighborhood in the fall of 1796, 
from Virginia. David was the eldest 
living son o! the -family, and like many 
of the pioneers of Ohio had seen much 
of hardshimand privation in early life. 
He was born and raised on the frontier 
and early became a hunter, a scout ana 
an Indian fighter. The companion of 
the Whetzels, the Bradys, Zanes and 
others, who became celebrated in border 
warfare, he shared their perils and mer- 
ited their confidence and respect. He 
was also the companion of McArthur 
and Davis— McDonald, Massie, and 
others of the early surveyors and spies 
in Southern Ohio. His father, David 
Jolly, sr., was among the earliest settlers 
in the neighborhood of Wheeling, Vir- 
ginia. His dwelling Was on the hill 
about three miles from the mouth of 
Wheeling Creek, and the site of his 
cabin is still pointed out by old residents, 
not far from the turnpike road which 
crosses the hill from the old toll gate to 
the liver. HiB family consisted, in 1790, 
when he lived at that place, of himself, 
wife and six children, with one grand- 
child. 

From the time he made his settlement 
there, tip to Wayne’s treaty in >95, the 
border line of civilization was in con- 
stant danger and consequent dread of 
Indians and not a year passed that did 
not witness conflicts and massacres more 
or less sanguinary. The fort at Wheel- 
ing afforded protection only to those 
within its gates. 

On the 8th day of June, 1790, a small 
' party' of Indians, who had secreted 
themselves behind some gooseberry 
bushes in the garden, fired upon the 
house ip open daylight. They had se- 
lected their hiding place so as to observe 
all that was going on in the house, and 
laid in wait for all the family to return, 

(103) 



as far as they were able to judge of its 
numbers. Mr. Jolly had gone that day 
on a journey to the Monongahela to col- 
lect a payment for some property he had 
sold before he moved to nis present res- 
idence. His daughter Mary was absent 
on a visit to her uncle, Joseph McCune, 
some five miles distant. David, jr., had 
gone out into the range to hunt the cows 
and expected certainly to be home by 
dinner time, and woulq have been, with- 
out doubt, but for a verjAnusual, and of 
course, unexpected occurrence. When 
only a short distance from home on his 
return he, being in perfect health, was 
suddenly seized with a fainting sensa- 
tion which lorced him to sit down at the 
root of a tree, where he remained near 
an hour before he was able to proceed 
homewards. While there he distinctly 
heard the reports of the Indians* guns, 
but did not reach home till their work 
was done and they . had gone. James 
Jolly had gone to the spring, some dis- 
tance from the house, for a bucket .of 
water. John, the eldest son, had just 
returned from the field to dinner and 
was in the act of wiping the perspiration 
fr >m his brow with the sleeve of his 
shirt, and Mrs. Jolly was standing in 
the door waiting for James to come with 
the water, and when the Indians, not 
doubting hut all the family had arrived 
to dinner, fired from their well chosen 
ambush into the house. Mrs. Jolly fell 
dead instantly. John was shot in the 
mouth and fell very badly wounded. A 
daughter and grand-son were also 
wounded at the first fire. Immediately 
after the fire the Indians rushed in ana 
tomahawked all the wounded, scalping 
thern whilst they were in the death 
struggle. James had heard the alarm 
and hurriedly made his escape, and the 
remaining members of the family at 
home, who had not been injured, were 
William, the youngest son, and his 
cousin, Joseph McCune, who was at the 
house on a visit. The Indians took 
these hoys prisoners, then pillaged and 
fired the house and made a rapid retreat. 
David Jolly, jr., arrived at his desolate 
and burning home only in time to drag 
the remains of his murdered friendi 
from the flames, which soon consumed 
the building. He ran to the nearest 
neighbors and gave the alarm. In a 



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104 A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY i OHIO . 

* 

few hours Lewis Whetzel, with his com- with flour and bacon for that market 



pany of veteran scouts, was on the trail* 
but the Indians, aware of the bold, dar- 
ing and energetic character of the men 
in and about Wheeling* made a cautious 
as well as a rapid retreat, and effectually 
eluded the tact and vigilance of their 
pursuers. To facilitate their retreat 
they killed young McCune soon after 
they set out. He was weakly and could 
not travel very fast, partly from phthisic 
and partly from fear. He also made a 
noise crying, which they feared might at- 
tract attention and they took the shortest 
method to get rid of him. His body 
was found some hours after, just where 
he had sun]fr under a single but well 
aimed stroke of the savage tomahawk. 
The people of Wheeling assisted in 
burying the dead, and when Mr. Jolly 
returned from this journey, he found 
himself homeless and almost without a 
family. He and the remainder of his 
children then took up their temporary 
residence in Wheeling. 

The Indians who committed this dep- 
redation were a war party of Sbawnees, 
who carried their prisoner to Sandusky. 
Wm. Jolly was, at this time, a lad of 
about ten years of age, of good constitu- 
tion and sprightly turn of mind. He 
soon adapted himself to the Indian 
mode of life and became a favorite with 
the younger portion of the tribe. His 
family made great efforts to find and re- 
lease him, but owing to the continued 
and fierce hostility which prevailed for 
the following five years, all their efforts 
were unavailing, as they could not even 
hear of him, and of course did not know 
whether he was dead or alive, or to what 
extremity of torture and suffering he 
had been subjected by his infuriated 
captors. After Wayne’s treaty his broth- 
er David went to Greenville in hopes to 
find him among the prisoners surrender- 
ed up by the various northwestern tribes 
under its stipulations, but after long 
waiting and much inquiry, he utterly 
failed, and returned fully impressed 
with the belief that his brother , was 
dead. From that time he was given up 
and all efforts to rescue him abandoned. 

About this time David Jolly, jr., marr 
ried Miss Mary Cavin and only awaited 
a reasonable prospect of peace with the 
Indians to remove to some of the rich 
lands of the Northwestern Territory to 
begin life in earnest. He occasionally 
followed boating on the Ohio and had 
been engaged in furnishing supplies for 
Wayne’s Army at Cincinnati. 

During the earlv part of the summer 
of 1796, hearing of the settlement which 
had been made that spring at Chillicothe 
find its rapid growth, he loaded a boat 



which on his arrival he found good* 
He was so much pleased with the Scioto 
country that he determined to move out 
and settle there as soon as possible. 
Accordingly, early in the autumn follow- 
ing, he set out, having induced his 
father, brothers and brothers-in-law to 
accompany him. They arrived in safety 
and settled down on a rich tract of land 
near the mouth of Paint* where they 
continued to reside till shortly after the 
death of the old man, David Jolly, when 
they removed to Highland to escape 
from the incessant fever and ague which 
had been and still continued the terror 
of the beautiful and rich valley of the 
Scioto. 

During the winter of ’96-’97 David 
Jolly, sr., received a letter from Col. 
Zane, telling him that his son William 
was alive, and living with the Cherokee 
Indians on the Coosa River in Alabama, 
and directing him to Col. Whitley, of 
Lexington, Kentucky, for further infor- 
mation. He wrote to WhiUey and re- 
ceived for answer a description of the 
boy. 1 which he had obtained in person 
whilst acting, during, the past summer 
and fall, as a Government agent among 
the Southern Indians for the purpose of 
reclaiming certain prisoners under the 
treaty then recently made. He was 
able to draw from the boy the fact that 
he had been captured* so me years previ- 
ous near Wheeling and being personally 
acquainted with the incident he wrote 
to Col. Zane a Statement of the facts, 
which satisfied him that he was the lost 
son of his old friend, David Jolly, sr., 
who had recently removed to Chilli- 
cothe. 

Near the middle of March, 1797, David 
Jolly, jr., set out on horseback to hunt 
his brother William and bring him 
home. He went immediately to Lex- 
ington, Kentucky, and had an interview 
with Colonel Whitley, who satisfied him 
that his brother was to be found among 
the Cherokees. He gave him all the 
necessary instructions as to how he was 
to proceed to recover him, and also a 
letter of introduction to the Governor of 
Tennessee. He set forward again and 
arrived at Knoxville in April, delivered 
his letter to the Governor, and was kind* 
ly received by him, who took steps at 
once to forward the object of Mr. JoHy 
by the exercise of his official power to 
the extent which appeared necessary. 
He applied to Major Henley, agent of 
the War Department of the United 
States, who promptly made put the 
necessary papers and furnished an ex- 
perienced and trusty interpreter and 
guide. One of these papers has been re- 



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V 

A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO . > M 



tained in the family and reads as fol- 
lows : 

“Permit David Jolly, a citizen of the 
United States, to pass undisturbed 
through the Cherokee Nation in pursuit 
of his brother, and treat him with re- 
spect David Henley, Agt. War. 

“To the Chiefs and head men of the 
Cherokee Nation, and to all whom it 
may concern. 

“Knoxville, the 15fch April. 1797.” 

Thus provided and guided by the 
interpreter and the kind instructions of 
Colonel Whitley, the Governor of Ten- 
nessee, Major Henley and others who 
took a warm interest in his enterprise, 
he pursued his route South ; and, after 
crossing the Tennessee River at Tilico 
Blockhouse, left behind him all traces of 
civilization. In due time he and his 
guide arrived at the point in the 
Cherokee country, on the Coosa River, to 
which Col. Whitley had directed them, 
but to their great disappointment found 
a large party of the Indians had gone 
South and the boy with them. After 
collecting what information they could 
in regard to the route and probable 
stopping place of the Indians, they 
again set out. This whole region of 
country, now known as the State of 
Alabama, was an almost unbroken 
wilderness at that day, inhabited by the 
Cherokees, Creeks and other roving 
tribes of Indians. Mr. Jolly and his 
companion set out again in the pursuit, 
determined to find the boy before they 
retraced their steps. They traveled on 
and on, till they arrived near Pensacola, 
in the present State of Florida, before 
they found the Indians. 

When they made their business 
known, the Indians seemed disposed to 
give them but little satisfaction. The 
young of the party were out hunting 
they said, but tney were all Indians— 
none white. Mr. Jolly, however, de- 
termined to wait till they came in at 
least, that he might judge for himself. 
He, therefore, deemed it policy in him 
not to appear to be very anxious, or 
evidence any degree of certainty in his 
mind that nis brother was with the 
hunters, lest word might be conveyed 
to him. So they waited patiently for a 
few days, under the pretense of resting 
after their long journey, and were kind- 
ly treated by the Indians, On the 
evening of the third day the young In- 
dians all came in camp with the pro- 
ceeds of their hunt, ana Mr. Jolly soon 
recognized his brother, more from fam- 
ily resemblance than anything else, for 
he was dressed in full Indian costume 
and looked and acted as much like an 
Indian as any of his companions. He 



endeavored to draw him into conversa- 
tion in English, but the boy had either 
forgotten it or was not disposed to 
talk. When he communicated through 
the interpreter his intention of taking 
him back, he positively refused, and 
the Indians appeared inclined to inter- 
pose to prevent him. When.lfcwever, 
the authority of the agent of the War 
Department was read to them by the 
interpreter, they made no further ob- 
jection, but hastily prepared to return 
to their homes on the Coosa. So the 
whole party accompanied them back 
that far. Then they discovered that 
the boy had been adopted by a woman 
who had her only son killed in battle. 
She regarded y oung Jolly as one sent by 
the Great Spirit as a substitute for him 
she had lost, and she loved him with 
all a mother’s devotion, and he return- 
ed it with all the warmth and generos- 
ity of his nature. She was almost fran- 
tic when she heard he had to leave her 
by authority of the Government of the 
united States. But after a long and 
tender interview which continued the 
greater part of the night, in which she 
made the boy promise that he would 
soon escape* and return to her, they 
started the next morning. Young 
Jolly wanted to take his gun and pony 
with him but his brother was distrust- 
ful and would not consent. His adopt- 
ed mother gave him all his nicest orna- 
ments, moccasins, leggings, &c., and 
having filled his pouch with jerk veni- 
son, permitted him to start. A large 
number of the young Indians accom- 
panied them the first day, and after 
that a few continued to follow in the 
rear until they arrived at the Tennes- 
see River. During the journey through 
the wilderness young Jolly continued 
sullen and would not talk. His broth- 
er allowed him to ride his horse much 
of the time, taking care to walk close 
by his side. When the boy got oft’ to 
walk, he frequently asked to carry the 
gun, but his brother was afraid to trust 
it to him. At last, near the banks of 
the Tennessee River, they had stopped 
at a spring to refresh themselves and 
Mr. Jolly, less cautious than usual, had 
set his gun against a tree close by. 
Whilst they remained there he observ- 
ed the eyes of the boy frequently turn 
towards the gun, and perceived that he 
gradually approached it sidewise and 
apparently without any design, but his 
brother was too vigilant for him. 
While they were waiting on the banks 
of the Tennessee at Telico blockhouse 
to cross the river, the few Indians who 
had borne them company from the 
Goosa country came up and took their 

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106 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



final farewell of young Jolly, whom 
they had named Thunder, as interpre- 
ted from their language. They con- 
tinued to stand on the southern bank 
of the river and gaze after him as long 
as he was visible. 

From this time on the boy gave up 
all hopes of making his escape and said 
he would go on home to his white 
friends and see them all and then re- 
turn to his Indian mother and home. 
He now grew more cheerful and com- 
municative, and from Knoxville home 
his brother had no difficulty with him. 
As they passed along in the neighbor- 
hood of iLexington, Kentucky, the boy, 
being in Indian dress, attracted much 
attention and many young ladies of 
course were anxious to see the “young 
Indian.” When some handsome girls 
were around him his brother asked 
him how he would like to have one of 
them for a wife. He shook his head 
and said “Too much white— too much 
white/' 

Mr. Jolly arrived safely at Chillicothe 
after an absence of near six months, 
having been most successful in the ob- 
ject of his journey and having met no 
accident or misfortune. The greater 
part of his time was spent in the wil- 
derness and in the Indian country, 
though they everywhere treated him 
with respect as under the protection of 
the United States, and in many in- 
stances they were very kind to him and 
his guide. From the time they left 
Telico Block House going South till* 
they returned there he never slept in a 
bed or a house. 

After young Jolly returned to his 
father and became somewhat recon- 
ciled to civilized life, he gave a brief 
history of his seven years’ captivity. 
As before stated he was carried to San- 
dusky and well treated, much to his 
surprise, as he had witnessed the mur- 
der of his little cousin, McCune, on the 
route and had always heard of the 
cruel and blood-thirsty nature of the 
Indians. 

The next spring after he was taken 
Mr. and Mrs. Hick— of whom we have 
before spoken — were brought into the 
same encampment. He recollected 
the delicate and weakly condition of 
Mrs. D. On one occasion whilst she 
was there the Indians all got drunk 
and exhibited much of their savage na- 
ture and habits. Mrs. Hick was much 
alarmed for the safely of the boy, and 
the better to protect him, covered him 
up in one corner of the wigwam in a 
pile of bear skins. 

Shortly after this young Jolly was 
transferred by some arrangement 



which he was never entirely able to 
understand, to the Cherokees, a small 
party of whom were on a visit to their 
Shawnee > brethren. The Cherokees 
soon after set out for the South, taking 
young Jolly with them. They took the 
trail to Old Town on the north fork of 
Paint. From there they struck and 
kept the hill region of the country to 
the Ohio River at the mouth of Cabin 
Creek. After crossing the river they 
again took the hills and on to the Cum- 
berland Mountains, avoiding all white 
settlements, and kept on the mountains 
all the way to Tennessee. As they 
passed along one day. right at the point 
where the “Crab Orchard Road” cross- 
es the mountain-^Cumberland Gap— 
they killed a traveler. The Indians 
were at a point on the mountain where 
they could command: a view of the val- 
ley and road for miles. They saw the 
traveler at a distance of a mile or more 
leisurely riding along. The Indians 
held a short consultation after which 
all retired a short distance and conceal- 
ed themselves, while one, who had been 
selected for that purpose, took a posi- 
tion bel i i 1 1 d a tree near the road. They 
all lay still and waited the approach of 
the unsuspecting traveler. Jolly said 
he was behind a Tog and could look over 
and see the traveler. He rode along up 
the mountain side in a slow walk on a 
very fine horse. When he got to the 
right place the Indian behind the tree 
shot him, and he fell from his horse 
down the side of . the mountain. The 
horse ran off a short distance and thev 
caught him, getting the saddle, saddle- 
bags, &c. After taking the horse a 
few hundred yards from the road into 
the thick bushes they tied him; then 
they all went off in a different direc- 
tion some distance and camped. They 
remained there over night and all the 
next day, perfectly quiet. On the next 
night they went to the horse, untied 
him and started on their journey, tak- 
ing him along. They traveled all that 
night and the next day. They contin- 
ued on direct until they arrived at an 
Indian town called Brownstown, where 
they remained some time. After leav- 
ing this place they went down to the 
Cherokee Nation to a town called Tur- 
key Town on the Coosa River, where 
Jolly remained. 

Young Jolly regretted deeply his sep- 
aration from his Indian friends in the 
South. He liked their mode of life, the 
delightful climate, and more than all, 
their warm friendships and native 
magnanimity. Indeed he had become a 
thorough Indian in his habits and 
tastes. The life of the white man was 



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irksome to him, and he longed for the 
sylvan shades and warm hearts on the 
banks of the Coosa. He had no taste 
or inclination for work, but was an 
adept in hunting and fishing, and he 
spent most of his time with his bow 
and arrows on the banks of the Scioto 
and Paint. Whenever he was almost 
forced into the field to help in the nec- 
essary labor of the time, he would seek 
the first opportunity to slip off and 
would not be seen till dark. If he sus- 
pected an urgent demand for his labor 
the next day he would rise by times 
and go hunting. Generally in summer 
time when he would desert from the 
field work, he would climb a tree and 
weave himself a bed of limbs and 
grapevines where he lay all day dream- 
ing doubtless 6f his happier home in 
the Sunny South, where the squaws 
hoed the corn and the men followed the 
chase and the war path. 

The next summer after he returned 
to his family two Indians, his adopted 
brothers, came from Alabama to see 
him. They brought with them his 
pony, gun, tomahawk and hunting im- 
plements, also some pretty worked 
belts, moccasins, &c., sent by his In- 
dian mother. Young Jolly was over- 
joyed at the sight of his Indian broth- 
ers and spent his whole time with 
them. They ate together in Indian 
style, buhted together, slept together, 
and during the two weeks they re- 
mained were inseparable. But it was 
a sorrowful day when the Indians left. 
He had carefully parched and ground 
on a handmill a quantity of corn, 
which he mixed with maple sugar and 
put up in a buckskin sack for the In- 
dians to carry along for part of their 
provisions. In addition to this he 
made them' presents of anything he 



could get his hands on that would be 
likely to please their fancy. He also 
fixed up some presents tor others of his 
friends among the tribe, not forgetting 
his old Indian mother. When the 
morning came for them to start he 
went with them one day's, journey. 
But his friends at home had their eyes 
upon him and extorted a pledge]Qf honor 
from him and the Indians that he 
should return. He had, however, come 
to the conclusion before the Indians 
came to remain at home and live like a 
white man. He continued to reside 
only a few years in this county, prefer- 
ring the wilder scenes of the West. 
He, however, married and raised a 
most respectable family, who now re- 
side in Wisconsin. 

James Jolly was a tanner, and es- 
tablished a small tan yard at an early 
day on a farm, now owned by Judge 
Delaplane, on the present toad from 
Hillsborough to Marshall. Subse- 
quently he moved to Hillsborough 
where he remained several years, carry- 
ing on business. About 1823 he re- 
moved to Fort Defiance, where he died 
a few years after. Mary Ann Jolly 
married William Warnick, and has 
been dead a number of years. 

David Jolly, jr.. early attached him- 
self to the Presbyterian Church, and 
was one of the first who established a 
congregation of that denomination and 
erected a church in the neighborhood 
of Hillsborough. He was throughout 
his life a constant and devoted Christ- 
ian and contributed largely by his ex- 
ample to the advancement of the 
church. Mr. Jolly was to the fullest 
extent a true man in every department 
of life. He died at his home in this 
county, on the farm he first improved, 
in the winter of 1843. 



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CHAPTER XXIV 



FURTHER PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, AND EXTRACTS 
FROM COURT RECORDS— ORIGIN OF THE NAMES OF WATER-COURSES IN 
THE COUNTY — ADDITIONAL SETTLEMENTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF 
GREENFIELD— MOSES PATTERSON ERECTS A MILL NEAR HILLSBORO - 
ROUSH, ARNETT, WILKIN AND GIBLER MOVE INTO THE COUNTY. 



Originally there were no county penses, thirty dollars. Ordered, that 
Auditors in Ohio. The Commissioners David Hays receive an order on the 
discharged the duties now devolving Treasury for sixty dollars for serving 
upon Auditors, together with the bus!- as Clerk of the Court of Highland, 
ness now properly belonging to them. Ordered,/that Elijah Kirkpatrick re- 
O wing to the small amount of taxable ceive an . order on the Treasury for 
property owned by the citizens of thirteen dollars and fifty cents, as Col- 
Highland fifty-three years ago, the lector of the township of New Market 
labor of making out the annual dupli- Ordered, that William L. Kinnard re- 
cates was comparatively trifling and ceive an order on the Treasury for one 
could be easily performed by the Board dollar and fifty cents for attending on 
of Commissioners without greatly pro- the Grand Jury. Ordered, that Jona- 
tracting their regular session. The than Berryman, Esquire, receive an or- 
Act creating the office of County Audi- der on the Treasury for thirty-four 
tor, and prescribing the duties of that dollars for acting as Associate Judge 
officer was not passed till 1821. Prior and other expenses. Ordered, that 
to that date the Clerk of the Commis- Richard Evans, Esquire, receive an or- 
sioners discharged the duties of Audi- der on the Treasury for six dollars for 
tor of the county. acting as Associate Judge. Ordered, 

Some other extracts from the record that Absalom J. Williams receive an 
of the Commissioners of this year may order for twelve dollars for acting as 
be interesting. “Ordered, that Martin Prosecuting Attorney at October 
Countryman receive an order on the Term, 1805. Ordered, Nov. 4th, 1805, 
County Treasurer for one dollar for that Dan Evans receive an order on the 
carrying the returns of the Brushcreek Treasury for twenty-four dollars and 
township election to New Market, thirty cents for summoning the Grand 
Highland county, October 10th, 1805.” Jurors and calling the same, and other 
p “Ordered, that James Stafford receive expenses wherein the State failed in 
an order on the Treasurer for two dol- prosecution. Board of Commissioners 
lars for carrying the returns of Fair- adjourned to the 10th day of February, 
field township to Chillicothe, Novem- lSOe.* 1 This closes the official and pub- 
ber 24th, 1805. “Ordered, that Walter lie business of the county for the first 
Hill receive an order on the Treasurer year of its existence, with the exception 
for five dollars and fifty cents for carry- of the formation of a military company 
ing the returns of New Market election in New Market. This was a militia 
into Chillicothe on October 10th, 1805. ,> company and was organized in the 
“Ordered, that Elisha Greer receive an summer of 1805. Jonathan Berrvman 
order on the Treasurer for four dollars was Captain. They wore no uniform 
for carrying the returns of Brushcreek and paraded to the music of the drum 
township election to Chillicothe.” The and fife, carrying their own rifles and 
records of this year do not show that accoutrements. 

any payments were made for carrying About the 20th of December, 1804, a 
the returns in the elections of any company consisting of William Rogers 
other of the townships of the county and his two sons, Thomas and Hamil- 
that year. ton, and two gentlemen by the name of 

On the 26th of December, 1805, the Thomas and Dolittle, arrived at the 
following orders of the Board of Com- mouth of Rattlesnake and camped for 
missioners appear on record: “Ordered the night. They were joined at this 
that Walter Craig receive an order on point by David Hays, of New Market, 
the Treasury for eighty-seven dollars and their business was to divide a sur- 
and seventy-five cents for surveying vey of two thousand acres of land, 
the county of Highland. Ordered, that known as the George survey, which 
John Davidson receive an order on the Wm. Rogers, Thomas and Dolittle had 
Treasury as Associate Judge. ^Ex- recently pujehased, at Sheriffs sale in- 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



Chillicothe. Hays was the surveyor. 
They had a merry time of it in their 
encampment that night roasting veni- 
son, telling stories, &c. They, however, 
succeeded in dividing the land, in the 
course of the next day, to the satisfac- 
tion of the parties interested. The 
share that fell to William Rogers was 
five hundred acres, which he divided 
between his two sons. As the survey- 
ing party passed up Paint Creek they 
came to a long, deep pond, on which 
was a large flock of wild geese. They 
became alarmed at the presence of their 
unusual visitors and all took flight, 
leaving them to name their lonely and 
happy nome the “Goose Pond,” which 
it bears to this day. 

The following August, about the 
25th 9 Thomas and Hamilton Rogers 
commenced building each a house on 
his land. After they got them com- 
pleted and returned home to the North 
Fork of Paint, about Christmas, they 
met a company of Virginians encamped 
near the ford. John Tudor and Philip 
Adair, with their families, gladly ac- 
cepted the offer, the first of William 
Rogers’ cabin, the other of Hamilton’s. 
They had interesting families and be- 
came permanent citizens of that neigh- 
borhood and drew to them many other 
valuable settlers. They soon after 
built a school house and church. Part 
of the company went on up into the 
Pope settlement with a view of re- 
maining there, but were not pleased 
and soon returned to Paint. Among 
these was Benjamin Adair, the patri- 
arch of the party. They hunted up 
their friends, from whom they had sep- 
arated at the falls of Paint. Soon after 
they arrived at the settlement at the 
mouth of Rattlesnake, and having 
made the necessary arrangements 
moved down and became permanent 
residents. Shortly afterwards, the old 
man Adair purchased in that vicinity 
the land on which he lived and died. 
He had the pleasure of seeing all his 
children settle in life around him and 
united with the church. The cabins 
erected by the Rogers were the first 
improvements above the falls of Paint, 
immediately on the stream, except at 
Greenfield, and were four miles below 
that place. 

There is nothing particularly strik- 
ing or beautiful in the names of the 
water courses of this county, and many 
of them are simply named for some 
very palpable local quality or chara< - 
teristic. Indeed it is much to be re- 
gretted that names more pleasing and 
euphonious had not been adopted at 
first. As it is, however, these are now 
permanent. In view of the fact that 



names, uncouth and inappropriate as 
they are admitted to be, will perhaps 
never be changed, the origin of those 
which do not clearly explain themselves 
may not be without interest. 

Paint, which forms a considerable 
portion of our eastern boundary, re- 
ceived its name from the Indians. A 
short distance below Reeves’ Crossing 
there are two high banks, washed by 
the stream, called the Copperas Mount- 
ains. It is said that the Indians used, 
at an early day, to resort to one or both 
of these to procure the earth which 
they used, in the absence of genuine 
Vermillion, to paint and decorate their 
faces and persons. In this way the 
stream derived its name. Rattlesnake 
was so named because of the immense 
number of rattlesnakes which infested 
its banks and cliffs at an early day. 
They were chiefly of the large spotted 
and black species, though snakes of al- 
most every variety known in this lati- 
tude were found there. It was em- 
phatically a snake country bordering 
on the stream. Old settlers say in the 
spring of the year when they first came 
out of their dens to sun they were often 
seen rolled up in large bundles or fag- 
gots, half the size of a barrel, each one 
having his head sticking outward, and 
all forming a most frightful circle of 
heads, glaring eyes and forked, hissing 
tongues. Various kinds of snakes 
were frequently seen composing the 
same bundle. Whether this singular 
combination was for amusement or de- 
fence is not known. Humbolt,in his 
travels in South America, describes the 
serpents of that country as frequently 
found banded together in a style simi- 
lar to the snakes on Rattlesnake. He 
concluded the object was defence 
against the anticipated attack of some 
dreaded enemy. 

A story about these snakes on Rattle- 
snake is related by an early settler • 
thus: In the spring of 1802 William 
Pope, John Walters and Ilezekiah 
Betts were passing up the trace 
along the banks of Rattlesnake 
from the falls of Paint, where 
they had been for milling and other 
purposes. This trace was on the north- 
east side of the creek. A short distance 
below the mouth of Hardin’s Creek, 
and nearly opposite the present town 
of New Petersburg, a strong and re- 
markably cold spring breaks out of the 
c’iffs and the branch there crossed the 
trace. This spring was a favorite 
stopping place for all thirsty travelers 
over the lonely route. When the party 
reached the branch William Pope dis- 
mounted. and left his horse standing 
near the remainder of the company, 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



who declined drinking. He walked to 
the spring— two or three rods— and was 
just in the act of stooping down to take 
a drink when his eye detected the 
presence of a huge rattlesnake, very 
close to him. He happened to have the 
wiping stick of his gun in his hand 
with which he soon killed the snake. 
By the time, however, that he had ac- 
complished this, he saw others and he 
took his tomahawk and cut a pole and 
kept on killing till they became so 
numerous that he grew alarmed and 
started for his horse— literally killing 
his path through them to where he had 
left his company. It appeared as 
though they had all rushed out to the 
aid of the first which were attacked 
and slain. After Pope reached his 
horse he was so fatigued and overcome 
with the nauseous odor emitted by the 
snakes that he was unable to stand and 
was obliged to lie down on the ground, 
where he vomited intensely. His com- 
panions were also sickened. Pope 
wore buck skin breeches and heavy 
blue cloth leggins. During the light 
with the snakes several struck him on 
the legs and fastening their fangs in 
his leggins, hung there till he cut them 
off with his butcher knife. After the 
killing was over the other snakes, 
which had come out in great numbers, 
retreated, and their heads could be seen 
thick, sticking up over the rocks. The 
snakes had just< come out for the first 
time that spring and were very fat and 
clumsy. Walters and Betts went back 
afterwards to see how many Pope had 
killed and counted eighty-four dead 
snakes. 

Hardin’s Creek derives its name 
from Col. Hardin, of Virginia. Har- 
din, Hogue, Redick and some others 
surveyed jointly a very large tract of 
land extending over a large scope of 
country about the mouth of Hardin’s 
^Creek, containing some fifteen or twen- 
ty thousand acres. On the division of 
this survey Hardin’s portion fell on 
both sides of the creek which bears 
his name, from the mouth up some 
considerable distance. Fall Creek was 
named in consequence of the numerous 
rocky falls in its channel, while Clear 
Creek was named for Clear Creek in 
Woodford county, Kentucky. The 
Rocky Fork of Paint Creek explains 
itself. 

Moses Patterson, with his family, 
emigrated from Fayette county, Ken- 
tucky, to Highland county, in the fall 
of 1805. He settled about a mile north 
of New Market, where he continued to 
reside for some three or four years. 
About two years after he came he pur- 



chased the tract of land on which the 
Patterson mill now stands of Benjamin 
Elliott. James Smith had previously 
erected a small tub mill on this land, a 
few rods below where the turnpike 
now crosses the creek. This little mill 
was run by Patterson for some time 
afterwards. His son Robert was the 
miller and kept bachelor’s hall in a 
very small cabin close by. It had an 
extensive run of custom, particularly 
in dry weather, as the water at that 
point was more lasting. Persons came 
to this mill a distance of fifteen to 
twenty miles. Patterson built a saw 
mill and made some necessary improve- 
ments on the land before he moved on 
it. 

On the 17th of October, 1805, Andrew 
Shafer, a Revolutionary soldier, arriv- 
ed with his family at New Market, 
from Washington county, Maryland. 
He remained in New Market till Feb- 
ruary, when he moved on to his land, 
the same on which he lived up to the 
time of his death in 1855, at the age of 
94 years. Mr. Shafer was in the 
battles of Germantown, Monmouth and 
Trenton. 

John Roush and Adam Arnott, with 
their families, emigrated from Vir- 
ginia to Highland in 1805, and settled 
in the neighborhood of Philip Wilkin, 
three miles east of the present town of 
Danville. Wilkin had settled at this 
place some two or three years before, 
having emigrated from Virginia in 
1801, in company with Lewis Gibler. 
David Wilkin, his grand-son, afterward 
occupied the same farm. Isaac Lea- 
mon also settled in that neighborhood 
about the same time. 

This year was remarkable as the great 
mast year. The trees were breaking 
down with nuts. Acorns couUM^ 
gathered under the whiteoak trees 
incredible quantities. In many places 
the ground was covered to the depth of 
several inches. 

At this point, the close of the first 
year of the existence of our county, it 
might be interesting to speak briefly of 
the domestic condition of the people 
who were then its citizens. They lived 
in long cabins, without, perhaps, a 
single exception, even in the towns. 
Some of these cabins, it is true, were 
graced with lap shingle roofs, and in 
rare cases, one four-light window. But 
this was looked upon by the public as 
rather aristocratic, and did not receive 
much encouragement. Furniture was 
scarce and generally of the rudest 
character. Owing partly to the want 
of passable roads and the consequent 
difficulty of transportation through the 



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wilderness, few or none of the emi- 
grants thought of carrying furniture 
with them. When they arrived at 
their destination, it required hut few 
hoursv work, after erecting the indis- 
pensable cabin, to «>lit out timber and 
make a rough table* by boring holes 
with an inch auger and putting in 
four rough but strong legs. In the 
same way were stools made to sit on, 
and bedsteads to sleep on, for those 
who could not be ‘satisfied with the 
softest puncheon of the cabin floor. 
The cupboard was erected in one corner, 
by placing nice clean white clapboards 
on pins driven in auger holes in the logs 
of the cabin. On these shelves were 
set up on their edges, bottoms to the 
wall, the bright pewter plates, which 
were the only article of table furniture 
of that day, except the cups and knives 
and forks, the latter frequently wooden. 
Wooden platters served for the rough 
uses of the family, which with the 
heavy oak buckets occupied the lower 
shelves just above the skillet and 
hominy pot* when they were not in use. 
A “dresser,” as the cupboards were call- 
ed, thus ornamented, looked pretty, 
because of its very nice, bright and 
clean appearance. In the course of a 
few years, men traveled over the coun- 
try, remolding pewter plates and dish- 
es, and it was common all over the coun- 
try to find all the plates and dishes on 
the table at dinner of this metal bright- 
ly scoured. There were no regular 
physicians in this county at that day. 
The old women were all the doctors 
the county appeared to need and they 
practiced on a very safe system of herb 
teas chiefly. Mrs. Samuel Gibson was 
celebrated for her skill, and ministered 
to the wants of the people far and near. 
Atm later, day somewhat, Mrs. Daniel 
Inskeep practiced extensively. There 
was however, but little sickness. The 
only lawyers who practiced in this 
county in 1806, were found in Ross, 
Adams and Clermont, there being none 
resident within the county. Eacn man 
made his own house, and pretty much 
all his domestic necessaries— shoes, 
ploughs, harrows, sleds, &c. The farm- 
utensils consisted of a long nosed old 
Virginia bear shear plow with wooden 
mole board, weighing more in itself than 
one of the splendid steel plows of the 
present day. All the iron about one 
of these primitive ploughs was the 
sheer and coulter, but this deficiency 
was made up in the wood work, which 
was clumsy and heavy beyond the con- 
ception of one who never saw such an 
implement; in length, when hitched 
up, they were ten or fifteen feet, and 
the wickedest thing to kick, except a 



mule, ever known. It is said they 
have been known tp kick a man over 
the fence and kick through at him 
sewal times before he was able to 
rise. They were both horse and man 
killers, and in truth did the land little 
or no good. If a farmer in those days 
happened to want a harrow he hunted 
out a forked tree, cut it, dressed the 
fork, bored holes in it, drove in wooden 
teeth, and dragged it over the ground. 
The horses were harnessed with raw 
hide bridle and traces, husk collar and 
elm bark muzzle on his mouth to keep 
him from eating the young com as he 
tugged the merciless plough through the 
roots and stumps, among which it was 
making a desperate effort to grow. The 
hoe was heavy and clumsy, also the axe, 
and these were the implements of hus- 
bandry used in Highland when it had 
the honor to take a distinct position 
among the counties of the State, and 
for many years afterwards. It may 
be there were a very few who had bet- 
ter fortune and enjoyed the pleasure of 
handling better tools, but the masses 
did not. Augers, hand-saws, drawing 
knives, &c. were rarities, and of course, 
as they were much needed by- the new 
comers, borrowed for miles around. 
There were no saw mills, and such a 
thing as a piece of plank could not be 
found in the county. All lumber had 
to be split out of the solid log. In 
those days, fashion did not play the ty- 
rant. This odious office was left to stern 
necessity. If men could manage to 
procure the absolute necessaries of life 
they were quite as well off as their 
neighbors, and consequently alb were 
about on an equality in this respect. 
But they were hearty and happy in 
their humble homes. Game was still 
abundant, and they supplied them- 
selves liberally, and on the whole, en- 
joyed life very much. They had few 
cares, and having per force reduced their 
wants within their capacity to supply 
them, they soon learned to be content 
with what they had, and make the 
most of life as it passed. They had 
their amusement, too. which sufficed for 
the times. Shooting matches and 
dances about Christmas, chopping frol- 
licks, quiltings, log rollings, house 
raising, elections, and occasionally a 
religious meeting in the woods, or 
more rarely still, a burying, in some 
of the new but lonely hill top grave 
yards, brought the settlers together, 
and made them acquainted. Hospi- 
tality was a prominent characteristic 
among all the pioneer settlers of High- 
land, which the few of them who yet 
remain never forget to practice when 
visited. 



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CHAPTER XXV. 



• • 

INCIDENTS AND ANECDOTES OF THE EARLY NEW MARKET SETTLEMENT^ 
COLONEL WILLIAM KEYS AND THE HARDSHIPS WHICH HE AND HIS FAMILY 
ENDURED IN THEIR JOURNEY TO HIGHLAND— THE STAFFORD, CALEY, 
AND CREEK FAMILIES MOVE IN AND SETTLE IN DIFFERENT LOCALITIES 
— FURTHER COURT RECORDS. CLOSING UP THE YEAR 1806. 



The follies and vices indulged in 
those days, were too often only looked 
upon as so much sport, though they had a 
damaging influence on the youth of the 
day, particularly in and around New 
Market, which was then the centre of 
fashion and refinement as well as vice 
and profligacy, of the county. One of 
the many characteristic incidents of 
that time and place, which was a 
source of amusement and laughter for 
many a day afterwards, is thus remem- 
bered by an early resident of that place. 
“Late in the Fall of 1805, Adam Barn- 
gruber came from Kentucky with a- 
four horse wagon and team* to New 
Market, loaded with a miscellaneous 
stock of goods, wares and merchandise, 
among which was a barrel of whisky 
and a keg of tobacco. He had some 
remnants of calico, cotton handkerchiefs 
shawls, &c., perhaps enough to fill a 
bushel basket. These goods he put for 
sale in a small cabin about twelve feet 
square, right opposite where Lewis 
Couch afterwards lived, which he digni- 
fied by the name of store. He brought 
with him a Dutchman called Fritz Mil- 
ler with whom he had formed partner- 
ship, he furnishing the goods and Fritz 
selling. This was the first trading es- 
tablishment or store in New Market, 
and, it is. believed, the first in the county. 
Here in New Market, just like every 
other place, sinks of demoralization 
were always first in order. Fritz open- 
ed under most flattering auspices, and 
by reason of his whisky and tobacco 
soon had lots of friends. Barngruber 
soon returned from Kentucky with an- 
other load of goods of the same stripe. 
Winter came, and during the long nights 
many of the citizens would walk up to 
spend an hour with “Fritz Miller.” He 
had become a great favorite. At these 
meetings, the “New Market Devil” (J. 
B. Finley) was prominent, and many 
were the little tricks played upon poor 
Fritz for the amusement of the com- 
pany. One chilly evening the company, 
six or eight in number, concocted a 
plan by which to have some fun out of 
Fritz. J. B. Finley was among them 
as chief conductor, whose mouth, upon 

( 112 ) 



the conception of the plan, was seen to 
spread from ear to ear. They, in car- 
rying forward their i>lan, contrived 
speedily to use up or spill all the water 
that Fritz had provided before dark 
for night. Soon a demand was made 
for water, and water they must have, 
so poor Fritz had to gather up his 
bucket and trudged off through the 
dark, a matter of three hundred yards, 
to the spring, the nearest point where 
water could be obtained. He was 
absent some time. Meantime, the 
company put out the fire which furnish- 
ed all the light for the store room. 
They then secreted themselves, in the 
dark, in the chimney corners, and at 
the side of the house, awaiting the ar- 
rival of Fritz. At length he came with 
his bucket of water. Finding the door 
open, and all darkness within, at the 
same time he was met at the door by 
such offensive, sickening and suffocat- 
ing effluvia, that he was for a moment 
startled, and almost unnerved. Recov- 
ering his breath, however, and speech, 
he vociferated in his broken language, 
“Vat, vat now! Vat in de hell ish 
now! I pleves dis divel has came! 
Poys ! poys!” At this moment one * 
outside in the chimney corner, gave an 
awful groan and gritted his feeth. 
“Vot ! dunder and blixen! O poys, vat 
now? Mine Got! vat ish dis I” Here 
their leader, Finley, set up a most hide- 
ous bellowing, followed up by all the 
others in their hiding place, with a 
most terrific rushing and rattling of 
casks, and gnashing of teeth, growling, 
howling, &c„ which so terrified the 
poor Dutchman that he exclaimed, as 
he turned to run, “Mine Got! vat ish 
dis ? Mike Stroup, the dif el is comes for 
me!” He left his store to the full pos- 
session of the supposed evil one, glad to 
escape so lightly what to him seemed 
terrible in the extreme. After he was 
fairly scared off, and everything quiet, 
the merry company lightea up the firq, 
and amused themselves with whisky 
and cards till morning, winding up in 
a pretty extensive tight, in which 
Finlejr remained master of the cabin. 
During the following winter was 



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113 



A fflSTO&Y OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 

brought together and organized, in tive of Col. William Keys, showing the 
Fritz Miller’s grocery, a bogus lodge difficulties and hardships encountered 
of Freemasons, the Master of which by emigrants from the older States to 
was J. B. Finley. This new order, of Highland county in 1805. We now 
course, soon became very popular, and make further extracts from the same 
petitions for initiation were numerous material, which properly take position 
at each regular meeting, which was in at this date. The portion heretofore 
the dark of the moon of each month, published, the readers will recollect, 
in any old shanty they could get, and brought the Colonel and his companions 
frequently* in the wooas and corn fields to main Paint creek, which “we cross- 
in summer. Among those who peti- ed,” he says, “at the Indian ford, two 
tioned for membership, was Fritz, who or three miles above the n^outh of the 
seems to have been the butt of most of Rocky Fork of Paint, And then took the 
their pranks. Tradition says the cere- newly cut Anderson State Road (this 
mony of initiation was performed in was in the autumn of 1805,) which had 
the most solemn manner— the initiate been recently opened, so far as the chop- 
being blindfolded and completely sub- ping down and logging off the trees and 
missive to the will of those around saplings were concerned ; but the logs 
him. At the conclusion of the rehearsal were Tying strewed helter skelter over 
of the ritual of the Order, the candi- the line of the road, so we had, in order 
date was branded with a red hot nail to get along, to commence a log rolling 
rod^and duly pronounced by the Master of some ten miles long, the first day we 
a “Free and accepted Mason.” Fritz entered the county. 

Miller, the first merchant of Highland, “On or about the 20th of November, 
was thus made a Mason, much to the piloted by Judge Pope, we found a 
amusement of the members of the fun- spring on our land, and, by first cutting 
loving Order present, being branded a wagon road to it, landed all safe. We 
in his own store, late at night. So cleared away the brush, erected a tent, 
thorough was the branding, and so hot before which we kept a huge fire, and 
was the nail rod, that the smoke rose soon commenced building a cabin, 
to the roof, and Fritz howled in Dutch which for all the world looked like log 
from the pain inflicted. J. B. Finley cabins in general, and being completed, 
soon after this became a member of the we moved into it on Christmas day, A. 
Methodist Church, and a preacher. D. 1805. Our cabin was a rough looking 
Since then, his history as a Christian concern, but it sheltered us from the 
Minister is familiar to the public. He storm, and kept us dry and comfortable; 
devoted himself to the cause, and after and, as was usual all over the west, we 
nearly fifty years of zealous and effici- kept the latch string hanging out.” 
ent labor, died a few years ago at an This cabin was built on Fall creek, 
advanced age. In speaking of their long journey of 

His father, R. "JV. Finley, opened a eight weeks from Virginia, the Colonel 
classical school, as was his custom says : “Our mode of traveling over the 
wherever he went, in a cabin on whole length of the road, was like that 
Whiteoak, and taught Latin, Greek of the children of Israel to the land of 
and Hebrew, to such young men as promise; we all took it on foot, .except 
desired those accomplishments. Among the aged mother, and women with 
his pupils about this time, was John young children — they rode on horse- 
W. Campbell, well known in this region back, where riding was possible.” 
as a member of Congress from the Dis- This party of Virginians, number- 
trict in which Highland then was. He ed in an ten persons — Colonel Keys, 
also gave his son John a thorough ed- liis wife and child, his mother, 
ucation, who was, it is said, the most four sisters, Samuel and Andrew, his 
intellectual man of the family. He brothers. They lived a year in that 

became a licensed preacher of the cabin. Their settlement was made on 

Methodist church in 1810. In 1822 he the farm now owned in part by Samuel 
was appointed Professor of Languages Reese, in Penn township. One of the 
in Augusta College, Kentucky. He sisters afterward became the wife of 
died in May, 1825. Samuel Ranesey, another married Hugh 

Old Robert, though silenced as a reg- Hill, and another a gentleman named 
ularly authorized preacher of the Gospel, Jones. 

continued to preach on his own account Samuel Reese, irom Berkley county, 

whenever an opportunity afforded. He Virginia, came and settled on Fall 

was a man of splendid education and creek, in the fall of 1805, on the old 
great worth— admired and loved by all. James Patton farm. He was a worthy 
In the first chapter of this History, we man, possessed of good strong common 
gave an extract from the written narra- sense, and represented this county in 

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i 




ii 4 a History of higHlaHO county, onto. 



the Legislature afterwards ; also Hamil- 
ton county, after he removed from High- 
land to the Miami. In the fall of 1804, 
Abner Robinson came from North 
Carolina, and built a cabin and made an 
improvement on the farm known as the 
old Leverton farm, on the Washington 
road. He sold out to old Foster Lever- 
ton in 180G, and moved away. Leverton 
came from North Carolina to Ohio. He 
was an Englishman by birth, and has 
been dead a number of years, leaving a 
large family of children and grand- 
children, most'of whom still reside in 
this county, useful and worthy citizens. 

In 1805 Jonathan Barrett, from 
Virginia, bought out Nathaniel Pope, 
on Hardin’s creek, and settled there. 
His brother Richard, and his brother-in- 
law, Henry Cowgill, came with him. 
Richard settled on Fall creek, near the 
farm known as the old Fairley place, 
Cowgill settled in the same neighbor- 
hood. 

Mr. Crew, father of Joshua Crew, of 
Penn township, settled on Hardin’s 
creek, in this year. 

William and Isaac Sharp came out 
from Virginia, in company with the 
Keys family, and settled on Samuel 
Reece’s land, as tenants. 

The settlements up to this year, (1805,) 
in Highland county, had principally 
been made on the water courses within 
its boundaries. There were, however, 
exceptions ; New Market, Franklin and 
Dicks settlement, Wilkins, Shafer, 
Laman and Caiey, north-west of New 
Market, and the settlement of James 
Johnson, in the present township of 
Penn. 

What the strong inducements were 
on the banks of the little creeks which 
cut up the county, is not very apparent 
at this day. Perhaps the small bottoms 
of rich lands formed the principal attrac- 
tion. This inquiry is not, however, im- 
portant. These streams, though small, 
were generally well adapted to mills, 
and mills, of all things, were most need- 
ed by the early settlers. Consequently 
they soon appeared at intervals, along 
the banks of the creeks. Temporary, 
frequently rickety things, only able to 
grind a few bushels of corn in a day, 
when there happened to be plenty of 
water, and that had not frozen, were 
erected. These little pioneer mills, 
simple and unpretending as they cer- 
tainly were, even for that day, met, to a 
considerable extent, the wants of the 
early settlers. 

Up to the time of which we now 
speak, no mill had been erected on 
Clear creek, and none on Fall creek. 
On Hardin’s creek there were, however, 



l wo. Jacob Beals, who mbVfed out early , 
erected a small tub mill on the creek, 
about a mile below where the Wash- 
ington road now crosses, in 1804. About 
the same time, Phineas Hunt erected a 
small grist mill where the Washington 
road now crosses, and built his house on 
the hill adjoining. These mills did much 
of the grinding of the Fall creek settlers, 
and, indeed, for the settlers more dis- 
tant. About the same date, and per- 
haps even earlier, a little trap of a mill 
was built at the falls of Rattlesnake- 
right at the falls — but it never did much 
good, washing away soon after, and 
never being rebuilt. 

Old William Stafford and his four 
sons, Jonas, James, Robert and John, 
moved out from North Carolina, and 
settled between Fall and Hardin’s creek, 
in 1804, in the neighborhood of Abner 
Robinson. The old man settled on the 
farm now owned and occupied by John 
Morrow, Esq. James, his son, settled 
on the farm now owned in part by 
Jacob Tompkins, Jordon Ladd, Micajah 
Johnson’s widow, and Joseph McNeil. 
John .Stafford settled on the farm now 
owned and occupied by John Leverton. 

Nicholas Robinson came out with his 
brother Abner, from North Carolina, 
and settled the farm now owned part by 
John Leverton and part by Allen John- 
son.* 

In the year 1805, ’Squire George 
Calev purchased the land on which he 
resided for many years. This place is a 
short distance north of the old Philip 
Wilkin farm. Mr. Caiey says the first 
year he lived there he killed twenty- 
two deers. He came from Virginia to 
New Market, it will be remembered, in 
1801. ’Squire Caiey reared a large and 
respectable family, and in all essentials 
faithfully discharged the duties of a 
good citizen. He was present at the 
laying off of the present town of Hills- 
borough.. 

In 1805 John, Joseph and Jacob 
Creek emigrated from Virginia, and 
settled with their families in the neigh- 
borhood of Richard Evans. John settled 
on the old Thomas Hinton farm on the 
pike. Joseph settled on and improved 
the farm recently owned by Judge Barry, 
and later by Thomas Willett ; and Jacob 
settled on the farm now owned by the 
heirs of John Barry, where he resided a 
number of years. They are all dead. 
Whilst they lived they were industrious 
and useful citizens. Joseph Creek was 
something of a mechanic, rather better 
than the necessities of the times forced 
upon all backwoods men. It was abso- 
lutely necessary for every head of a 
family, in the early settlement of the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



115 



county, to be able to turn his hand to 
many occupations now esteemed arts 
and professions. He had to construct, 
after the best fashion he was able, with 
the few and often very poor tools in his 
possession, or which he could borrow 
from his neighbors, pretty much all the 
indispensable implements for the farm 
and household. It is very true they did 
not know the use of the tenth part of 
the domestic conveniences so lavishly 
employed by the farmers of the present 
day, but some things they were obliged 
to have. They had to have clothing, 
and as the day had passed when a whole 
family could be considered genteel, 
however comfortable they might be, 
clad in the skins of wild beasts, some 
arrangement was necessary to fabricate 
clothes from liax and wool. And these 
articles for many years subsequent to 
the date of which we speak, were almost 
the sole resource to the Highland peo- 
ple. They had to cultivate flax and 
sheep. The wool had to be carded by 
hand for all the winter clothes of the 
family, and then spun and wove. This 
work was all done by the women folks 
of the house. They had a hard time of 
it, poor souls, an<£ we wish we could 
present the picture of the pioneer 
mothers, as we know it to have existed 
pretty much for the first twenty years of 
the history of the domestic life of the 
county. It was one round of incessant 
toil, from spring to fall and from fall to 
spring. Frequently they had to assist 
their husbands in clearing the ground 
and building the cabins, then they help- 
ed work the crops — helped harvest the 
grain— helped thresh and clean the 
wheat and husk and shell the corn — 
hunted the cows, frequently had to chop 
and carry the wood from the woods to 
cook or warm the house in winter when 
the husband was down with the rheu- 
matism, a cut foot or some other of the 
misfortunes which befell farmers in 
those days. In addition to all this she 
'vfcas depended upon for preparing some- 
thing eatable for her hard working hus- 
band and sons. She had, in the spring, 
to hunt through the woods for early 
plants suitable for greens, for ordinary 
vegetables were out of the question. 
These greens boiled with the “jowl ” 
the remnant of last fall’s supply of bacon, 
with some corn bread, the meal of 
which was most probably pounded bv 
her hand or ground on the hand mill. 
This constituted the best dinner for the 
spring of the year. In the fall, how- 
ever, comparative abundance came, in 
pumpkins, turnips, potatoes, &c., but 
with the other labors of the summer, 
the mother had to pull the flax, spread, 



and after it was sufficiently rotted, break, 
skutch and hackle it. She had also to 
spin and weave linen for shirts and 
pants for her husband, and children. 
This she of course had to make up and 
keep washed and mended. Early in 
the fall came the carding, spinning, 
weaving and dyeing of the little crop of 
wool, shorn the spring before off the 
backs of the few sheep which had sur- 
vived the inclemency of the past winter, 
or the more dreaded attacks of the 
merciless wolves. The material used 
for dyeing was bark, walnut, hickory or 
oak. By Christmas, the mother, if her 
health did not fail, generally had the 
satisfaction of seeing her husband and 
all the boys and girls clothed in good 1 
warm new clothes of her own manu- 
facture, including socks of her own 
spinning and knitting. To accomplish 
all this, she had to set up till midnight 
and frequently work by' fire light, 
making or mending — darning socks, 
patching little socks almost all over, 
whilst the owner was asleep, unconsci- 
ous till morning that his only pair of 
ragged breeches were thus carefully 
prepared to protect him from the cold 
blast the next day. In this way, from 
year to year passed the whole of the 
life of the faithful and devoted mother 
of early days. Truly justice has never 
been done to these kind hearted and 
true women. We sincerely regret that 
we can not do it. They were the true 
heroines of the West if not of the world, 
nobly and self-sacriticingly giving their 
lives to the cheerful discharge of their 
duty, without a thought but for the 
comfort and happiness of their family, 
they were content to pass their days in 
humble obscurity and toil. 

Most of these pioneer women— moth- 
ers and maids — of Highland, have long 
since sunk into humble, it may be, now 
forgotten graves, without even a simple 
rudely engraven tomb-stone to mark 
their birth and death, yet from our very 
soul we trust and hope they have re- 
ceived the reward due to their patient, 
uncomplaining and constant discharge 
of duty in this world. They are a class 
who have been utterly lost sight of in 
the annals of the West, except a few 
who were made prisoners by the sava- 
ges, or moulded bullets whilst Jtheir 
husbands and brothers defended the 
block houses against the vengeful ene- 
my. All honor — and the heart of ev^ry 
true descendant of the early women of 
Highland, will echo it— to the memory 
of the early women of Highland. They 
were nature’s noblest production, as 
they abundantly evidenced by their 
acts, and contributed more, we doubt 

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116 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



not, to the success of the county, than 
the men who were the more prominent 
and therefore the better remembered. 

Joseph Creek made the first loom ever 
made in the county of Highland. It 
was made for Mrs. "Blount, mother of 
Mr. Andrew Blount, and people came 
far and near to her to get weaving done. 
The loom was constantly employed, 
They would hire the use of it and weave 
themselves when they could not do 
otherwise. In a short time, however, 
he constructed other looms and soon 
they were found in many of the cabins. 
In the course of a few years others com- 
menced the manufacture and almost 



Judge of this day. 

The Summer Term of the Court is 
thus recorded: “At a Court of Com- 
mon Pleas begun and held in the town 
of New Market, on the 11th day of June, 
1806, present the Honorable Robt. F. 
Slaughter, Richard Evans, John David- 
son and Jonathan Berryman, Associate 
Judges. The Sheriff returned a Grand 
Jury for the body of the county of High- 
land, to-wit : George Richard, Dan 

Evans, John Stafford, Josiah Roe, Elijah 
Kirkpatrick, Tewis Summers, Ezekiel 
Kelly, John Gossett, Hector Murphy, 
Peter Moor, John Knight, Moses Patter- 
son, Jonas Stafford. State of Ohio vs. 



every cabin had its loom. Christian Bloom. A Jury empanneled 

The first public record of the county and sworn, and issue joined, to-wit : 
for the year 1806, is that of a term of the Joshua Porter, James Waters, James 
Court of Common Pleas, held at New Stafford, Abner Robinson, John Coffey, 
Market, the President Judge being Frederick Nott, Evan Evans, Samuel 
absent. We extract the following from Littler, Walter Craig, Philip Wilkin, 
the records: “At a Court of Common Lewis Gibler, Joseph Davidson. The 
Pleas begun and held in the town of Jury find a verdict in this — We, the 
New Market, on the 20th February, Jury, find the defendant not guilty.” 
1806. Present, John Davidson, Richard Next come the journal entries of several 



Evans and Jonathan Berryman, Es- slander suits between Oliver Ross and 
quires, Associate Judges. The Sheriff G. W. Barrere. 

of this county returned a Grand Jury, “Ordered, that William Kelso receive 
to-wit: Samuel Hindman, John Creek, license to retail merchandise for three 



Abraham Clavinger, William Stafford, 
Amos Evans, Andrew Badgley, John 
Campton, Michael Stroup, Philip 
Wilkin, Peter Moor, Charles Hughey, 
Chistian Bloom, Robert Huston, William 
Rhey, Samuel McQuitty and John Gos- 
sett. Came into Court, Frederick Miller,' 
and saved his recognizance. Ordered, 
that Joseph Van Meter receive license 
to keep a public house in the county of 
Highland. Collins vs. Kerr, rule to 
plead at the next term, and continued. 
Ross vs. Barrere. On motion of the 
defendant by his counsel, a rule is grant- 



months.” 

“It is ordered * the Court that An- 
drew Badgley be fined in ten dollars for 
contempt of the said Court w T hile sitting, 
and by giving security of two persons in 
the sum of one hundred dollars each for 
the good behavior for one year. G. W. 
Barrere and William Hill came into 
Court and acknowledged themselves in- 
debted the sum above stated, with this 
condition, that they be released if the 
said Andrew Badgley behaves in an 
orderly manner for one year. Court 
adjourned till 10 o’clock to-morrow.” 



ed herein for a didimus to issue direct- 
ed to any justice of the peace in the 
town of Natchez, in the Mississippi 
Territory, to take the deposition of 
Benjamin Gooding, on any day between 
the 25th day of April and the 10th day 
of May next, to be read in evidence on 
the trial of this cause. Ordered, that 
William B. Lucket receive license to 
retail merchandise for three months. 
By order of the Court, that the Laws 
and Journals of the State of Ohio be 



Captain Andrew Badgley was a Ken- 
tuckian, who came to Ohio about the 
time it was organized under the Consti- 
tution, and settled on Whiteoak, a mile 
or two above the present county line. 
He is represented as a very strong and 
active man, and wild and bold as he was 
physically powerful, particularly when 
he had been drinking whisky, as was 
too frequently the case when away from 
home. On this occasion, he was called 
before the Court as "a witness in a case. 



distributed as follows, to-wit : one copy 
of each to each Justice of the Peace in 
th# county of Highland, one to each 
Associate Judge, 'one to the Sheriff, ode 
to the Coroner, one to the Clerk, and 
one to each Commissioner. Court ad- 
journed without day.” Brief terms of 
Court they had in those days, as shown 
by this record. It would not make an 
hour’s employment for a Common Pleas 



He took the stand, after being sworn, 
and commenced his statement, but it 
was too remote from the point to please 
the counsel, and he, rather rudely as 
Badgley thought, stopped him, and re- 
quested him to tell what he knew about 
the matter in issue*. Badgley, a little 
riled, resumed the same roundabout 
narrative of the circumstances, intro- 
ductory, as be intended it, to the main 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



oint. Again the counsel stopped him, 
ut Badgley by this time had got his 
blood up, ana he determined to go 
through with his story. The counsel 
appealed to the Court, who commanded 
the witness to stop and take his seat. 
Badgley stood a moment boiling with 
rage, eyeing the Court, and then re- 
marked. in a loud and angiw tone, “This 
is the aamndest dirtiest Court I ever 
saw, and I won’t stay in it. You sum- 
mons a man before you, then swear him 
to tell the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothing but the truth, and then you 
won’t let him tell it.” As he uttered 
the last words he strode out of the 
crowd collected around the Court, with 
an* air and mien as lofty as a Knight ot 
the Middle Ages. The Court was per- 
fectly astounded, and the President 
Judge could not at first find utterance 
for his wrath. At length, after Badgely 
had untied his horse from a sapling 
within sight of the Bench, and was 
about mounting him, his Honor found 
words to order the Sheriff to arrest that 
man instantly. But the hot headed 
Captain was already under whip, on a 
splendid Kentucky gelding swift almost 
as the wind, and was out of sight in a 
moment. There were, however, many 
horses hitched around among the bushes 
whi£h formed the outer boundaries of 
the Court room, and the Sheriff, who 
was Major Anthony Franklin, prdered 
some fifteen or twenty men to accom- 
pany him. They mounted in hot haste 
and gave chase, for in those days the 
Highlanders held the majesty of the 
law in great respect and awe. ' The 
chase continued till they arrived in the 
vicinity of Badgely’s cabin, some ten 
miles distant from where the Court sat, 
under a shady tree on . a puncheon 
bench. The Sheriff and his posse here 
met a neighbor of Badgely, who inform- 
ed them that he had arrived at home 
some half hour before, furious, and had 
barricaded his cabin, and with two rifles, 
plenty of ammunition, a tomahawk, 
butcher knife, and two axes, defied the 
Court, swearing that he would kill all 
the men Judge Slaughter could* send, 
before he would be taken alive to New 
Market, and the neighbor said he firmly 
believed the Captain would do it, for he 
seemed like one possessed. He there- 
fore advised the Sheriff not to jeopard- 
ize his life or the lives of his party by 
acting rashly in the matter, but wait, «t 
least till Badgely had time to cool down 
a little. So Maj. Franklin and his poss*-* 
after a brief consultation, concluded «o 
return and report to the Court. Wh i 
they arrived at the Judge’s seat, and 
reported no prisoner, his Honor mani- 



fested considerably more temper than 
comports with the dignity of the Bench. 
He was smarting under the insult, 
which was gross m the extreme, and 
without a precedent, and again ordered 
the Sheriff, in the most peremptory 
manner, to take a sufficient armed force 
and fetch Badgely dead or alive. The 
Sheriff knowing the character of the 
the man he had to deal with, when he 
was greatly enraged, hesitated. Judge 
Davidson, also, knew that the conse- 
quences would be most serious, and per- 
haps cost several lives if the order of the 
Court were faithfully carried out, and so 
represented it to the Judge. Just at 
this moment, James B. Finley, who was 
in the Court, and cognizant of the whole 
procedure, rose to his feet and addressed 
the Court to the effect that it was no 
use to go to so much trouble and ex- 
pense to bring Badgely into Court — 
that if the Court would give him au- 
thority, he would bring Captain Badgely 
before the Court himself. Finley knew 
Badgely well, and “lo’ei him like a vera 
brither; they had been fou for weeks 
thegither.” He was satisfied that noth- 
ing could be done with him by force, 
situated as he was—whole mad and no 
doubt half drunk, and he was equally 
well convinced that mild means would 
easily accomplish the object. But the 
Court replied to his proposition that 
they had no power to appoint a Sheriff 
whilst that officer was present in person ; 
but through the influence of -Judge 
Davidson, who was Badgely’s neighbor, 
no further order was made, and Finley, 
with the consent of Franklin, started 
alone to see Badgely. In a few hours 
he returned with the Captain sober and 
penitent. He approached the Court, 
and apologized in a very handsome 
manner, telling the Court, however, that 
he would not cringe to, or be trampled 
upon by mortal man. The Court con- 
sidered the matter, and the President 
Judge having cooled down and having 
naturally a kind and forgiving heart, 
took quite a fancy to Badgley, and whis- 
pering in the ear "of Judge Davidson his 
thanks for counseling an abandonment 
of the violent course which he propos- 
ed, said “Damn the fellow, I like him 
for his manly independence, and if it 
was not for outside appearances and 
effect, I should not fine him a cent.” 
! »ut to smooth every thing over, the fine 
..bove stated was imposed, which the 
gallant Captain very cheerfully paid, and 
thanking the Court very courteously, 
mounted his horse and returned to his 
cabin in a much better frame of mind 
than when he left it a few hours before. 
This term of Court lasted four days, 



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118 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

during which some twenty-five cases somebody, we are unable to make the 
were disposed of. Singular as it may remainder of the name from the record, 
appear, nearly all of the business of this State vs. John Coffey, who was put upon 
term was slander suits, with hosts of bis trial by a Jury and found not guilty, 
witnesses, of coupse. In most instances, Court granted license to Jonathan Ber- 
tha juries happened to be sensible men, ryman to keep a public house in the 
and brought in verdicts for one cent town of New Market for one year, by 
damages. There were seven jury trials paying into the County Treasury eight 
at this term. One case, Collins vs. Kerr dollars. The Court ordered that Fred- 
— covenant — demand eighteen hundred erick Miller receive license to retail 
dollars, was tried by a jury, and a ver- merchandise for four months. They 
diet returned for the plaintiff for six State of Ohio vs. James Cummons and/ 
hundred dollars. This was the most Rachel Cummons. Indictment. Plea 
important case of the term, in point of not guilty, and submitted to the Court, 
amount recovered. This case, says the record, was submit- 

At this term the first attorney at law ted by consent of parties to the Cpurt. 
appears to have been admitted to prac- Thereupon they put themselves upon 
tice at the Bar. It is thus recorded: the mercy of the said Court ; the Court 
“Came into Court Michael C. Hays, who awarded that they find the defendants 
took the oath to support the Constitu- guilty, and assess the fine at one dollar, 
tion of the United States and the State This term of Court closed by granting 
of Ohio, and also the oath of office as an license to G. W. Barrere and Francis 
Attorney and Councellor at Law / 1 Nott, to keep public houses for one 

A license was granted, at this term, to year. 

Anthony Franklin to keep a “ public “At a special meeting of the Associate 
house” for one year, in the township of Judges of the county of Highland, on 
Brushcreek, by paying into the County the first day of November, 1806, in the 
Treasury six dollars. town of New Market, present Richard 

The Fall Term of this year only lasted Evans, John Davidson and Jonathan 
two days, the docket having been al- Berryman, Esqrs.,. Associate Judges, 
most entirely cleared at the last term by The Court took into consideration the 
trial, compromise, or dismissal. The Commissioners’ books, and ordered that 
same Judges were present as at the sum- the Secretary lay before the Court on 
mer term. The Sheriff returned a the day previous to the February term, 
Grand Jury, who returned three indict- 1807, a statement of their proceedings, 
ments. It is not stated what the At a special term of the Associate 
parties were charged with, but it was Judges agreeable to adjournment from 
probably assault and battery. The first the 1st day of November, 1806— present 
was the State vs. James Nott and Nancy John Davidson, Esqr , Associate Judge.” 
Nott his wife, who came into Court and There seems to have been a failure on 
saved their recognizance. What further the part of the other members of the 
was done with them, the rec >rd saith Court, and this closed up the judicial 
not. The next is, State vs. Rachel proceedings of the county for 1806. 



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CHAPTER xxvt. 



TnE SUBJECT OF THE REMOVAL OF THE COUNTY-SEAT IS AGITATED, AND TUt 
CITIZENS OF NEW MARKET MAKE A DESPERATE EFFORT TO RETAIN IN 
THEIR VILLAGE THE SEAT OF JUSTICE— JOHN CARLISLE’S MERCANTILE 
VENTURE ON CLEAR CREEK— COMMISSIONERS’ RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS, 
INCLUDING THE LAYING OUT AND ESTABLISHING OF NEW ROADS— 
REWARDS OFFERED FOR WOLF AND PANTHER SCALP9*-JOUN SMITH 
STARTS A STORE IN NEW MARKET, AND AFTERWARDS REMOVES TO 
HILLSBORO — JAMES FITZPATRICK SETTLES NEAR HILLSBORO — PETER 
CARTWRIGJHT AND JAMES QUINN, EARLY METHODIST MINISTERS, AND 
THEIR LABORS— MATTHEW CREED AND HIS MILLING ENTERPRISE— A 
TURKEY PEN. 



An agitation, which in its incipient 
stage was considered unworthy atten- 
tion by the knowing ones, begun, during 
this year, to assume an alarming char- 
acter to the good people of New Market 
and neighborhood, including all the 
southern portion of the county. This 
was no more nor less than the removal 
of the county seat to a more central 
point. Faint whispers of this had oc- 
casionally been heard almost from the 
first location of it at that place, but Jo. 
Kerr, who owned a large part of the 
lands around the town, or haid sold them 
on the assurance that the place was 
central and would remain permanently 
the seat of justice, in spite of all the in- 
terests in other less favored quarters, 
laughed at them. He was a man of 
learning and ability. Interest, there- 
fore, prompted him to use the influence 
they enabled him to command to brow- 
beat all advocates for a change, and 
keep the result, which he could not but 
regard inevitable, as long away as possi- 
ble. 

These whisperings soon, however, be- 
came alarming to the New Market peo- 
ple, many of Whom had purchased town 
lots and made or commenced improve- 
ments with reference to the permanen- 
cy of the county seat. The people north 
and east of the town numbered more 
than two to one at 'this date, and, with- 
out an exception, they were in favor of 
locating the county seat elsewhere. New 
Market, during the eight years of its ex- 
istence as a town, had not made for 
itself a very enviable reputation. The 
surrounding population* were, with 
many worthy exceptions, rather on the 
rowdy order, and a considerable number 
of the citizens of the town were, as is al- 
ways the case in new places, worse if 
possible than those in the vicinity. 
But these causes were not much mooted, 

( 119 ) 



and of course not at all relied on by 
those who urged the change. The agita- 
tion of the subject soon brought to light 
the fact that the town of New Market 
was not in the center of the county by 
some miles. 

In all new counties, the location of 
the county seats is a matter, generally, 
of deep personal interest as well as 
wide spread and intense excitement. 
This grew rapidly, and soon became the 
subject of much discussion. The Clear 
Creek settlement furnished the warmest 
and most determined advocates for the 
change. The men of this settlement 
were, many of them, leading and in- 
fluential citizens, of much energy of char- 
acter and determination of purpose. 

Kerr was looked to, by the friends of 
NeW Market, as the leading advocate 
and defender of their local rights, and 
while he most solemnly assured them 
that there was no danger, he command- 
ed, in abundant caution, that the citi- 
zens of the place should raise money and 
erect, at their own expense, the public 
buildings for the county. This done, 
he assured them, they would hear no 
more about moving the seat of justice. 

In pursuance of this counsel, the 
leading men of New Market and vicinity 
set their heads together to raise the 
money. They were not aware, it seems, 
that all the county, with the exception 
of their own neighborhood and town, 
were opposed to their plans. After 
much consultation, they concluded the 
better mode would be to give a grand 
barbecue, and invite the entire popu- 
lation of the county, and as there had 
never yet been a fourth of July celebra- 
tion in Highland, they fixed upon that 
memorable day for the feast, hoping that 
while their guests were enjoying the 
hospitality of the town, and excited 
with free whisky and the glorious re- 



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120 A ms ton Y OP HIGHLAND COUNTY > OHIO. 



collections revived by the day* that they 
were freemen * they would give up the 
mere trifle of the removal of the county 
seat three or four miles nearer the 
centre of the ceunty. 

The day approached, and the prepara- 
tions for the festivities were great. 
Word had, been sent to every neigh- 
borhood, if not to every man in the 
county, and expection was on tip toe. 
The “barbecue” \fas got up in regular 
Kentucky style. Roast pig, sheep, 
turkey and even an ox, it is said, to- 
gether with all the vegetables, bacon, 
&c., which could be found for miles 
around. It was emphatically a great day 
in New Market. The town was crowd- 
ed to overflowing. Indeed the entire 
population of the county seemed to be 
present. No public gathering of a gen- 
eral character had ever beiore taken 
place of sufficient importance to attract 
the masses, and therefore this free din- 
ner on our country’s great natal day, 
could not be resisted by the good people 
of Highland. 

Extensive preparations were made in 
the way of tables, which to make it en- 
tirely convenient, and give the most en- 
larged idea of complete freedom, were 
spread in the street in front of G. W. 
Barrere’s tavern. Around this the 
crowd very naturally gathered, as the 
avowed object of the meeting was to 
eat, and they watched with great anx- 
iety the progress of the cooking depart- 
ment. Early in the day the New Market 
company of militia paraded the streets, 
marching up and down and performing 
various military evolutions, and firing 
salutes, to the music of the fife ana 
drum, and following an old tattered flag 
that had once belonged to a company 
in Wayne’s array, and was with him 
at the “Fallen Timbers.” The crowd, 
however, soon became so dense that the 
military could not maneuver to advant- 
age, and they ceased to be regarded with 
interest in proportion as the masses 
grew hungry and drunk. 

A stand, which had been erected of 
fence rails, on the side of the street 
near the long table, was occupied about 
11 o’clock by several dignitaries. 
Around the military was drawn, the 
drum and fife, to which by this time 
had been added three fiddlers, in front, 
and the old flag planted firmly on one 
corner of the stand. The crowd of 
course collected around. The militia 
fired a general salute, the music struck 
up, and when it ceased the most excit- 
ed part of the audience huzzaed lustily. 
It was then announced that the meet- 
ing would organize by electing a Presi- 
dent. The name of Morgan VanMeter 



was suggested, and accepted by accla- 
mation. He accordingly was conducted 
to the chair. The Declaration of Inde- 
pendence was then read, and immedi- 
ately followed by an oration of consid- 
erable length, delivered by one Jesse F. 
Roysden, a rather eccentric school- 
master, then recently settled in the 
neighborhood. At the close of these 
services, it was announced that dinner 
was ready, and the people being pretty 
hungry, needed no urging. It was 
rather a promiscuous affair, and looked, 
to a modest hungry man, very much 
like a grab game. However, they man- 
aged to get pretty well satisfied, and 
then came the drinking of toasts. We 
regret exceedingly our inability to 
furnish a sample of the uttered patriot- 
ism of that early day. These toasts 
were drank in strong toddy and juleps, 
brewed in large new cedar tubs, which 
flowed like water. Every thing went 
on swimmingly now. The fifer and 
drummer made incessant noise at one 
end of the table, and the fiddler at the 
other kept up a laudable but most active 
rivalry. Soon the interest of outsiders 
began to flag. Some of them went out 
and commenced shooting at a mark, 
while others ran foot races, wrestled, 
&c. At length, rather an ugly knock 
down took place, w T hich greatly dimin- 
ished the number at the table, and, with 
those who remained, things began to 
grow confused in nearly exact propor- 
tion as the tin cups of julep circulated. 
The fighting became more general, and 
the noise and disturbance great. The 
sober portion of those at the table deem- 
ed it prudent to adjourn, which was 
done. It was now well on to night, and 
all who were not too drunk or too 
badly whipped, started for home, and 
except the noise made by those who 
were still thirsty, or not sufficiently 
whipped, and the frequent half in- 
distinct huzzas from the large number 
of fense corner patriots, things seemed, 
by sundown, to pe setting down again 
into something like ordinary New-Market 
life. So absorbed were the managers 
by the great affair, and so delightful 
was the entertainment, that it was not 
until the next morning that it occured 
to them that, after all, they had entirely 
forgotten the chief, indeed the sole ob- 
ject of the entertainment, to wit a 
general subscription to erect public 
buildings in New Market. Things in 
reference to the seat of justice, there- 
fore, remained pretty much as they 
were, and no further effort was made to 
forestall the action of the opposition by 
erecting public buildings in New Market, 
on private account. 






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121 



A HISTORY 01 HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



In the spring of 1806, John Carlisle, of 
Chillieothe. came np to Clear creek and 
made arrangements to start a store in 
that settlement. He selected “Billy 
Hill's” as the best point, and had a 
hewed log house built for a store house. 
William Kelso and Samuel Swearingen 
kept Hie store for Carlisle. 

The first session of the Commissioners 
ef the county for 1806, commenced on 
the 10th day of February. Under the 
statute providing for the election of 
Commissioners, the new Board elected 
at the October election, 1805, were re- 
quired to settle among themselves who 
was to serve one year, who two years, 
and who three years. At this session it 
was agreed, as appears from the record, 
that Fredrick Braucher should serve as 
Commissioner until Election, 1806, Jona- 
than Boyd until 1807, and Nathaniel 
Pope until 1808. 

But little business was transacted at 
this session, which continued only one 
day, exasptjn relation to the roads of 
^thweotmty. These were things of abso- 
lute necessity as the population of the 
county increased. New settlements 
were forming, at intervals, among the 
woods of the entire territory, with the 
exception of the wet lands on the west 
of New Market, and the desire to pass 
from remote settlements to mills and 
the county seat, manifested itself in 
numerous petitions for roads. 

The Commissioners at this session 
“ordered that Peter Moor, Samuel Reed 
and John Countryman proceed to view 
a road beginning at the crossing of 
John Shields 1 Run, thence running a 
south-westerly course the nearest and 
best way to intersect a road laid out in 
Adams county, and cut from Limestone 
to Highland county line, to intersect 
said road running through George’s 
Creek and Cherry Fork settlement to 
Highland county line, and that the said 
vie were proceed to view said road, and 
Walter Craig survey the same, agree- 
able to the request of petitioners.” 

The entire county at this date was 
densely covered with timber, and the 
undergrowth was, as a general thing, 
thick and brushy. It was therefore no 
small job to cut ten or twenty miles of 
road and make it favorable for wagons, 
after it had been located by the viewers 
and surveyed by order of the Com- 
missioners. 

Cutting these neighborhood roads was 
therefore one of the many self-imposed 
duties which was cheerfully discharged 
by the industrious and persevering first 
settlers of this county. The work pro- 
ceeded slowly, as a matter of course, and 
roads were only made where they were 



indispensable. These roads, frequently 
following an old trace, wete merely cut 
wide enough for the passage of wagons 
and sleds, the timber cut off being roll- 
ed to the sides, leaving a lane, as it were, 
through the woods, for the logs and 
brush formed a pretty good fence on 
both sides of the track" of from three to 
five feet high, thus making the road a 
complete enclosure, with only an open- 
ing at each end. 

These roads were entirely destitute of 
bridges, and from the innumerable 
stumps, a foot or more above the ground, 
they were rough in the extreme, and 
barely passable for the very few wagons 
that were takexi over them. Provision 
was made, it is true, by law, for work- 
ing the roads of the county, and it was 
made the duty of the Supervisors to 
keep them in passable order, but the 
settlers had too many other things to 
do, of more pressing necessity, and they 
could not spare the time to work roads 
after they had been opened up, unless 
it was unavoidable. On many of these 
roads, years even after they had been 
located and cut out wide enough for a 
wagon, not the slightest appearance of 
the impression of a wagon wheel could 
be discerned. Neither could thp foot 
marks of a shod horse be seen on the 
entire track. Horses, like their owners, 
went barefoot in those days. On the 
more prominent of the roads, might be 
detected, occasionally, once in three or 
four months perhaps the slightest marks 
of a narrow "wheeled wagon. When 
wagons did not happen to pass over 
these unfrequented roads,' through the 
sparsely populated parts of the county, 
theV were almost as much of a curiosity 
to the white headed children of the one 
or two log cabins along the route, as is a 
train of railway cars at this day. They 
could hear the lumbering noise of the 
vehicle as it slowly wound along, strik- 
ing stumps, roots and logs, sometimes 
almost upsetting, and righting again 
with a crash, which echoeathrough the 
woods and along down the channel of 
the creek like thunder. These sounds, 
mingled with the loud voice of the 
driver and the frequent crack of his 
whip, heralded the approach, it might 
be for a mile or more of a clear evening, 
and all the household were out at the 
fence, the smaller ones on top of it, and 
the dogs on the outside next the road, 
whilst the old folks contented them- 
selves by standing in the door, to wit- 
ness the passage of the wagon along 
their road. 

The Commissioners met again on the 
26th of the same month, “present, 
Nathaniel Pope, Jonathan Boyd and 



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m A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



Frederick Braucher, and proceeded to 
business. Ordered, that the Trustees of 
Fairfield township receive an order to 
grant that order to the Supervisor of 
said township, to open and keep in re- 
pair a road leading from Morgan Van- 
meter’s towards the Falls of Paint creek, 
by order of the Commissioners. Order- 
ed, that Abraham J. Williams receive 
an order on the county Treasury for 
"twelve dollars, for attending as Prosecu- 
Jipg Attorney at February Term, 1806.” 

The next meeting was held March 
Stu, of this, year, at which accounts of 
the Associate Judges, Jurors fees, &c ., 
were audited. The next session of this 
. year was held on 20th of April, at which 
it was ordered that Joseph Swearingen 
received an order on the county Treas- 
ury for one dollar for carrying the re- 
turns of the October election to New 
Market. The Commissioners also or- 
dered themselves pay for their services, 
at the rate of one dollar and fifty cents 
per day, and the Secretary extra pay of 
two days. Orders were also issued to 
Thomas Mays, James Boyd and Peter 
Moore, for carrying chain, at the rate of 
seventy-five cents per day, “in survey- 
ing a road through Brusbcreek town- 
ship.” . 

It appears from the following orders, 
made at a session of the Commissioners 
held on the 17th of May, 1806, that 
prior to that date the Commissioners 
appointed by the Legislature to survey 
the county and ascertain its centre, had 
performed their Services*. “Ordered, 
that James Denny, Esq., receive an or- 
der on the Treasury for eighty-eight 
dollars and fifty cents, for surveying 
and ascertaining the lines of Highland 
county with the centre, and other ex- 
penses.” A similar order for a like sum 
was made for Nathaniel Beasly. Peter 
Light also, received an order for eighty- 
nine dollars for similar service perform- 
ed at the same time. In the absence of 
other record testimony, we conclude 
that the above named men were the 
State Commissioners for the purpose. 

“Ordered,* that Nathaniel Beasly re- 
ceive an order on the Treasury for 
thirty dollars for two hands, twenty 
days each, in chaining the county lines. 
Ordered, that John Campton receive an 
order for seventeen dollars for serv- 
ing in marking the county lines. Order- 
ed, that Christian I^loom receive an or- 
der on the Treasury for six .dollars for 
packing for the Surveyors. Ordered, 
that George W. Barrere * receive an or- 
der for five dollars and seventy-five 
oents for provisions furnished the Sur- 
veyors. Ordered, that Oliver Ross re- 
ceive an order on the Treasury for 



twenty-two dollars for 'boarding "fhfc 
Surveyors. Ordered, that Jesse Baldwin 
receive an order on the Treasury 
for three dollars, for carrying t the re» 
turns of Fairfield township * election to 
Chillicothe. Ordered, that John David- 
son, Esq., receive an order on the Treas- 
ury for three dollars, for carrying ■ the 
returns of New Market election to Chiill- 
cothe.” Commissioners adjourned. 

It does not appear what election these 
returns were of, hnt it is presumable 
they were of the preceding October 
election. 

June 9th 1806. Commissioners met 

P ursuant to adjournment. Ordered, that 
’athanel Pope receive an order on the 
Treasury for twelve dollars and twenty- 
five cents, for collecting the county tax 
in Fairfield township in 1805. Bond 
received of John Richards and securi- 
ties, as Treasurer of Highland county, 
according to law, for the year 1806. 
Ordered, that George Richarqs receive 
an order on the Treasury tor ten dollars 
and fifty cents, for goingf to Chillicothe 
twice for stationery. Ordered f * that 
John Richards receive an order on the 
Treasury for twenty-four dollars and 
twenty cents, for serving as Treasurer 
one year pact. Ordered, that Peter 
Light, James Denny and Nathaniel 
Beasly, receive each an order on the 
Treasury for six dollars for fixing the 
permanent of seat justice for Highland 
county* - . 

“Ordered, by the Commissioners of 
Highland county, that there shall be 
given for every wolf or panther scalp, 
above six months old, two dollars and 
fifty cents, 'and under six months, one 
dollar and fifty cents, to be paid out of 
the county Treasury on order of the 
Commissioners. Jonathan Boyd, Sec. 
Ordered, that Edward Curtis receive an 
order for two dollars and fifty cents, for 
killing an old wolf. Ordered, that 
Joseph Swearingen receive an order for 
eleven dollars, for taking in and assessing 
the land and property of liberty tp. 
Ordered, that Evan Evans receive an 
order on the Treasury* for sixteen dol- 
lars and fifty cents, for taking and as- 
sessing the land and property of Fair- 
field township. Ordered, that Elijah 
Kirkpatrick receive *an order on the 
Treasury for eight dollars, for taking in 
and assessing the land and property in 
New Market township. Ordered, that 
Benjamin Groves receive an order on 
the Treasury for four dollars and 
seventy-five cents, for . taking in and 
assessing the land and property in 
Brushcreek township. Ordered by the 
Commissioners of Highland county, 
that the Assessors shall be collectors of 

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123 



.4 HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



the State and county levies, each one 
in bis own district. Evan Evans, for 
the township of Fairfield; Joseph Swear- 
ingen, foj the township of Liberty; 
Elijah Kirkpatrick, for the township of 
New Markef; and Benjamin Groves, for 
the township of Brushcreek. By order 
of the Commissioners, Jonathan Boyd, 
Sec., Ordered, that John Hoop receive 
an order for one dollar and a half for 
appraising houses arid lots one and one 
half days in the town of New Market. 
Ordered, that John Richards receive an 
order on the Treasury for one dollar for 
appraising houses in Liberty Town- 
snij>.” Appaising of houses in Liberty 
Township appears to have been a light 
task fifty-two years ago. Indeed it is 
not easy to conceive buildings at that 
day in this county, intrinsically worth 
the cost of appraising, except the few 
little mills, for fropa the best informa- 
tion we can gather, there were few, if 
any houses, having pretensions above 
the log cabin— an occasional one having 
a lap shingle roof. During this session 
of the Commissioners, Evan Evans de- 
clined serving as collector for Fairfield 
township, and William Pope was ap- 
pointed in his stead, and gave bond to 
the satisfaction of the Board. Board 
adjourned till the 20th of July next. 
■“Met pursuant to adjournment. Order- 
ed, the Trustees af Brushcreek town- 
ship receive their orders to proceed to 
work the Brushcreek township road. 
Ordered, that Jonathan Boyd receive 
.an order on the Treasury for twenty- 
two dollars and sixty-six cents, for mak- 
ing out eight duplicates of State and 
•county levies of Highland county, and 
for stationery two dollars and sixty-six 
cents. Board of Commissioners ad- 
journed to the 17th of October next.” 

At the Ocober meeting, the Commis- 
sioners did nothing of interest but issue 
orders for the per diem of the Associ- 
ate Judges, and pay nine dollars for 
killing four wolves, three old ones and a 
young one. “Ordered, that the Com- 
missioners lay before the Associate 
Judges the books of their respective 
proceedings. Board adjourned to the 
17thinst. ,y 

At the October election, 1806* the 
term ‘of Frederick Braucher, as Com- 
missioner, expiree^ and George W. Bar- 
rep$ ivlas elected in his stead, and was 
preterit at the next adjourned meeting 
otv ( tqe Board on the 17th of October. 
Attt*& session it was “ordered, that 
A Aj&ihy Franklin receive an order on 
fhe^if qSurv for t\yelve dollars for bal- 
lot qooVs tor the election districts, and 
carryl^g them to the election districts. 
0|^ecL k iihat Anthony Franklin re- 



ceive an order on the Treasury for four 
dollars for candles and stationery for 
the Court of Highland county to this 
date.* Ordered that George W. Barrere 
receive an order on the Treasury for 
eleven dollars for his house during six 
terms of the Court of Highland coun- 
ty.” In addition to this business or- 
ders were issued to James Collins, 
Peter Hoop and Samuel Reese for two 
dollars and fifty cents each for killing 
each an old >wolf. Commissioners ad- 
journed to the 13th of December next. 
At this meeting the only order that 
was made was to James Ralaugh for 
two dollars and fifty cents for killing 
an old panther. Board adjourned to 
the 5th of January, 1807. 

New Market up to this date had not ' 
become much of a business place, at 
least in the way of trade. Fritz Miller 
was compelled to wind up his concern 
this fall on account of the failure on the 
part of Barngruber to keep up the sup- 
plies most in demand. 

To Miller succeeded a Mr. Logan, 
who opened up his stock of goods in 
the finishing shop of Michael Stroup. 
This trading establishment was also 
soon closed out and discontinued. Af- 
ter Logan let t, John Smith canfe from 
Mftysville with a respectable lot of 
goods. This was late in the winter of 
1806-07. Smith opened his store east 
of Fritz Miller’s old stand, on the op- 
posite shore of a large pond in the 
street, which lay east of where G. W. 
Barrere then resided. It spread clear 
across Main street from aide to side. 
This pond was named Lake Robinson 
by the New Marketers. For the ac- 
commodation of foot passengers there 
was a connection of logs laid above the 
water from one side to the other. A 
man by the name of Robinson, laboring 
under the influence of some of Fritz's 
whisky, and being very top heavy, at- 
tempted to cross this pond with his 
load by means of the foot logs, when 
he unfortunately slipped, though using, 
as he fancied, the utmost care,* and 
tumbled headlong into the water, and 
from this eircumstanceu and time it 
was known as Lake Robinson until in 
course of time it was drained and filled 

Up. ;v 

, Smith carried on a successful busir 
ness in New Market as a merchant for 
a year or two until Hillsborough whs ' 
laid out, when he removed there and 
established himself in the same trade. 

During the year 1806 the first settle- 
ment was commenced in the present * 
township of Washington by William 
Murphin, from one of the New Eng- 
land States. jmoved in and built a 



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cabin some two miles east of the pres- 
ent town of Berry ville* on the farm 
known as the old Murphin place. 

Early in the month of March, 1806, 
James Fitzpatrick moved up from 
Ohillicofche to this county and settled 
on a farm about three and a half miles 
southeast of Hillsborough. He had 
purchased the land of Henry Massie 
and selected that locality on account of 
its promise of health. 

The previous October he arrived 
with his wife and a large family, prin- 
cipally grown, at Chillicothe from 
Monroe county, Virginia. His old 
home was on a small stream called In- 
dian Creek, a tributary of New River. 
In this wild region he reared his fami- 
ly and spent the greater part of his 
life, for he w’as an old man— -upwards 
of sixty when he determined to gratify 
the inclination of his children by seek- 
ing a new home on the rich lands of 
the Scioto Valley. 

Preparations for the departure of the 
family were commenced early in the 
summer, for it was to them the first 
great incident of their lives— breaking 
up old associations, abandoning an old 
home, endeared to each member of the 
large family by many peculiar chhrms 
which all know and appreciate, and set- 
ting out on a long journey into a new 
ana unknown land. * 

The arrangements were at length 
completed, and the day of departure 
arrived. Most of the neighborhood 
spent the previous evening with them. 
Thev were all good old-fashioned 
Methodists— wearing the simple religi- 
ous costume of the early days of that 
Christian denomination— and their im- 
mediate friends were of the same per- 
suasion. The evening was spent in 
singing and prayer. In the morning 
the entire neighborhood was early as- 
sembled to take leave of the Fitzpat- 
ricks and witness their departure. It 
was a most solemn scene. 

Nine pack horses were ladened with 
the property which was deemed neces- 
sary to be taken to the new country. 
These were started on the road in a 
line one after the other, the foremost 
led by one of the sons. In the rear of 
these came the cattle, with bells on 
their necks, among which mingled the 
other stock. Next in the procession 
came the family, on foot, all except the 
mother, who rode on horseback. The 
three^men carried rifles on the should- 
ers, and the six girls, nearly all young 
women, assisted to drive the stook. In 
the roar followed the dogs of the fami- 
ly. Many of the young neighbor boys 
andgixls accompanied them ft? (he first 



night’s encampment and remained 
with them until morning. 

The day of their departure was 
among the first of early auttfmn. The 
first frost of the season had" left his 
foot marks on the tenderest of sum- 
mer’s foliage, which gave to the dis- 
tant mountain sides an appearance 
more subdued than that of summer, 
yet less grand than when, a few weeks 
later, they donned the full livery of the 
season. But the late flowers of the valley 
were yet spared, and except the slight 
sharpness of the morning air, and the 
occasional fall of a yellow leaf in the 
path, little of the sadness of decay was 
visible to the train of emigrants as 
they bade adieu to the long familiar 
land marks of Indian Creek, and slowly 
wound their way down the valley to 
the northward. 

To the large number of relatives and 
friends who stood about the gate until 
the last of the departing company had 
disappeared behind a projecting spur 
of the mountain, grazing with moisten- 
ed eyes for the last time, as they k doubt- 
ed not, on their much loved friends— 
listening to the peculiarly sad and sor- 
rowful tones of the bells on the stock, 
as their slow and measured tone grad- 
ually grew more and more faint and in- 
distinct, until they were eritirelv lost 
to the ear, although the listeners kept 
the most profound silence m hopes to 
catch another farewell tone— to these 
good friends left behind the scene was 
indescribably melancholy, and utterly 
beyond the comprehension or apprecia- 
tion of those who never witnessed a 
similar departure of emigrants for the 
far West. 

The “movers” were about six weeks 
on the road. Nothing, however, occur- 
red worthy of special note. They ar- 
rived at their destination all well, and 
less fatigued than one of the present 
day would suppose, for though the 
girls walked every foot of the way the 
travel was not so rapid as to be greatly 
fatiguing after they become used to it, 
which only required a few days. The 
weather continued, with a few except- 
ions of rainy days, very pleasant, and 
the novelty which the river, forest and 
occasional new farm, constantly pre- 
sented— the deepening tinge ot autumn 
on the leaves; their almost ceaseless 
falling around them, exposing the rich 
clusters of grapes or nuts— the ep- 
eampment in the brown old woods at 
night, and the bustle and preparation 
for starting in the morning, afforded 
almost constant employment for their 
thoughts. So that the entire journey, 
lonely ^nd cjieeripss (Ijopgh itmayap- 



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pear to the reader, was far from it. 
Some one of the men/ acting as hunter, 
rarely failed to supply their encamp- 
ment with a fat buck or turkey— some- 
times a bear. After broiling a rich 
supper from the choice parts of the car- 
cass, an old-fashioned heart-felt hymn 
was chanted and a prayer was offered 
by the venerable sire. They all then 
retired to , rest, with full confidence in 
the protecting hand and watchful eye 
of the Great Father. 

Cbillicothe and the surrounding 
country were pretty well improved at 
this date, and the Fitzpatricks were 
very much pleased with what they 
considered their new home. They, 
however, deferred purchasing land un- 
til spring. But shortly after their 
arrival, the charm of the Scioto country 
was broken. Extending their acquaint- 
ance somewhat, they discovered that 
more than half the people in the bot- 
toms were just recovering from the 
fever and ague. On inquiry, they 
found that this scourge was of annual 
occurrence. This intelligence was to 
them, who had hardly ever heard of 
sickness of any kind in their lives, 
startling. They speedily resolved not 
to remain there longer than early 
spring, and many of the families were 
anxious to retrace their steps to their 
old home among the mountains of Vir- 
ginia. But Henry Massie hearing of 
their troubles, went to them and told 
them that he had good uplands in 
Highland, where he would warrant 
them against fever and ague. So 
Robert Fitspatrick went to look at the 
lands described by Massie, and selected 
the tract on which his father and 
family settled the following March. 

They built their cabin within twenty 
yards of where the Furnace road now 
passes, near a most superb spring of 
water. A small “clearing” was made 
in good season for planting corn. 
Every thing went on well. The family 
enjoyed good health, and were pleased 
with their new home, which they soon 
made entirely comfortable. During 
the summer, they put up one of those 
old fashioned, neat and pretty log 
cabins, which were once tolerably com- 
mon in this couqty, and which mark 
the first stage between the primitive 
“rough log cabjn” of song and the 
hewed log house ot a. later dat*. It 
was a stoiy and a half high, logs 
and hewed on two sides, closely rhmk- 
ed and tightly daubed on the on ‘side 
with jrellow clhy. The chimney was 
“cat and clay," i. e. straw mixed p in 
well worked clay— stone hearth and 
fireplace; neatly hewn puncheon floor; 



joists of peeled hickory or poplar 
poles, covered with heavy boards. The 
doors were neat, and there were two 
small glass windows. There was but 
one room, but the old cabin made a 
good kitchen. In this, two nice large 
beds, with snow white, home made, 
seven hundred flax linen sheets, pillow 
cases, &c. The bed clothing was also 
all home made, and of the most taste- 
ful and serviceable style. Near one of 
the windows on a small stand lay the 
old buckskin covered bible and hymn 
book; The chairs were old fashioned 
split bottomed, without paint, but 
scoured white a s snow, and indeed 
every thing inside betokened great in- 
dustry, skill and taste. It was a beauty 
of a cabin, and in it reigned peace, har- 
mony and love. The inmates were 
true Christians. Each one strove to 
avoid any delinquency in duty. From 
morning till night the hum of the 
wheel and the clang of the loom were 
heard, whilst the men folks were en- 
gaged in the out door work. The father 
had provided himself with a quantity 
of choice peach seeds from his old 
orchard in Virginia, and his first care 
was to plant them. His skill as a 
woodsman enabled him soon to obtain 
a supply of bees from the woods, which 
were early domesticated. They had 
plenty of fine cows, and having built a 
pretty little cabin milk-house, at the 
cool, rocky spring, they were able be- 
fore fall to set the nicest hard, fresh 
butter on the table with their johnny 
cake, chestnut coffee and fried venison, 
that man ever delighted his palate 
with. 

Early in the autumn of 1805, the first 
regular Methodist meeting ever held in 
the county of Highland, was held at 
Fitzpatrick’s. Peter Cartwright and 
James Quinn were the regular circuit 
preachers, and William Burk was pre- 
siding elder. The circuit was called 
the Scioto circuit, and embraced pretty 
much the whole extent of territory 
west of that river and east ot the Little 
Miami. Mr. Quinn had thirty-one ap- 
pointments to fill every four weeks. 
He and Cartwright wore buckskin 
breeches whilst on this circuit. “Quinn 
was the first preacher who ever came 
to our house,” says a member of the 
family; “he came wandering along 
through the woods from George 
Richards’, hunting our house, late one 
afternoon. W e had nothing but a little 
bench for a table, but we got him some 
supper— the best we had— and he ap- 
peared satisfied and quite at home in 
our little rough cabin. He remained 
all night, and sat up late talking and 









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prayingiwith'us. The noxtjmorning he in the ranks, his toil, suffering and 
left, having made an appointment to heroism have been lost sight of by the 
preach for us iu two weeks. ,, And historian, and tradition has failed to 
from that time forward for the period hand them down. He was, however, 
of twenty-one years, Fitzpatrick’s con- with Lewis at the bloody battle of the 
tinued to be a regular place of circuit “Point,” and, being an excellent woods- 
preaching and quarterly 4 meetings. It man and hunter, was generally among 
was a favorite stopping place for the those who were known as Indian fl&ht- 
preachers at this time. Perhaps no ers after the close of the Revolution up 
place at that day in Ohio, could present to the peace of ’95. He was a harmless, 
so many attractions[to;the truehearted quiet, peace-loving, honest, siuiple- 
and self-sacriflcingjpioneer Methodist hearted old man, devout and sincere in 
“circuit rider,” as the hospitable and his religion, true in his friendships, 
unpretending home of the Fitzpat- and faithful to his country. He was a 
ricks. great hunter and killed many deer, 

In the iirst settlement of the county bear and wolves in Highland. Like 
there does not seem to have been any most of the pioneers lie continued to 
Methodists, but speedily after a perma- dress partly m deer skin. As a hunter, 
nent preaching place was established, skilled and successful, this material 
a congregation was rapidly built up. was readily obtained and he was an ac- 
People came for many miles to attend complished hand at dressing and pre- 
preaching there, and it was thenceforth paring skins for apparel. He always 
the headquarters of Methodism, as well wore ouckskin moccasins of his own 
as the center of Christian example. manufacture, preferring them to shoes. 

A)long list of the pioneer preachers, In the course of a few years he had 
who made this house their occasional the best peach orchard in the country, 
home for one or two 'years, might be His bees also throve, and he had great 
given. Quinn, Cartwright, Trader Ha- abundance of honey. He understood* 
veils, Collins, etc. But they are all making a favorite drink in the early 
gone, and those better qualified than us days of the West, called Metheglin, 
nave long since recorded their virtues which was made of honey chiefly and 
and sufferings. Home, after a pleasant was superior in many respects to any 
year among the hills of Highland, the of the present day. His fields of 
idol of the brothers and sisters of the w heat, rye and corn yielded an abund- 
simple hearted and sincere Christians ant supply for home consumption— 
of the Rocky Fork church, were sent there was no market in those days and 
by the Bishop, Asbury, Whatcoat or of course no one thought of raising a 
McKendree. as missionaries to Missis- surplus of anything. Thus for many 
sippi, and died in want and suffering years did this good old man and his 
among the savages they hoped to save, worthy family live. But in the course 
Others were transferred to distant con- of time, his life drew to a peaceful 
ference8, and in the new field of useful- and happy close. He and his worthy 
ness made new friends, and were no wife, Mary, died near the same time 
more heard of by their humble friends and were the first buried in the family 
here, while some^still remained labor- grave yard on the highest point of the 
ing in tlveir chosen vocation, till they hill west of his home on his own farm, 
filled the measure of their vears, be- This grave yard was a lonely and out 
came the patriarchs of the Highland of the way place, where 
church, and then meekly passed away “Two low green hillock*, two email gray 
to receive their reward. stones, 

Peter Light, when assisting as State Hose over the place that held their boBes ; 
Commissioner to fix the seat of justice grassy hillocks are leveled again, 

for Highland county, made his home at And the keenest eye might searth in vain, 
Fitzpatrick’s during his stav. And in briers, and terns, and path, of sheep, 

18H or *12 when Simon Kenton was For the spot wh.r. the ag«4 oo Hp i, .l.. P , 



last in this county he stayed several 
nights with them. 

James Fitzpatrick was a soldier of 
the Revolution, having entered the 
army in 1778. He served for some time 
as a spy, but we regret our inability to 
find any portion of his history, either 
while in the army of the Revolution or 
the frontier service against the In- 
dians. Like most of those old worthies 
who did good service to their country 



“Yet well might they lay beneath the soil 
Of this lonely spot, that man of tdil, 

And trench the strong hard mould', with the 
spade, : I - 

Where never before a grave was made.*- - • 
For he hewed the dark old woods away, ’ 

And gave the virgin fields to the day ; . . * 
And the gourd and the bean beside, n is door, 
Bloomed where their flowers ne’er opened be- 
fore ; , 

And the maize stood up, and the breaded rye 
Bent low in the breath of an unknown sky.”- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 127 



Ifcia & subject of regret that most of 
the old burying grounds which hold the 
bones of so many of the pioneers should 
be found in neglect and comparative 
ruins. They sleep none the less quiet- 
ly for that, but it should not be so, and 
at no distant day the people of the 
West will become aware of it. 

Robert Fitzpatrick, one of the sons 
of old James, spent his life near the old 
homestead— was a most worthy and 
respected man— was out in the Mexi- 
can war— was a devoted Methodist 
and esteemed a true citizen. The other 
two sons we are not in the possession 
of the history of. 

This interesting pioneer family is all 
gone and none of them have for many 
years resided on the old homestead. 
Their early home in Highland— the 
meeting place of the Methodist Church 
and the headquarters of the circuit 
preachers for so many years— that 
sweet looking, pleasantly situated log 
house, toith its surrounding of peach 
trees, plums, bee hives and blue grass 
sward^-its cool spring, by which al- 
ways Juing the clean gourd— is gone 
ana with it all that made it sweet and 
dear, except the spring— houses, peach 
orchard, bee hives— all. The entire 
ground is now a field or pasture and 
none of ,the young generation would 
ever suspect the appliances of civiliza- 
tion \ybich had once graced it. 

In the auttfihn of 180G Matthew 
Creed, another Revolutionary soldier, 
who fought at King’s Mountain and 
* “the Point,” was a great hunter and an 
Indian spy during the troublous times 
of Western Virginia, came, with his 
large and chiefly grown family, from 
Monroe county, Virginia, and bought 
out Terry Templin and settled within 
half a mile of his brother-in-law, 
James Fitzpatrick. They both had 
lived close \ neighbors in Virginia. 
Creed and his family were also mem- 
bers of the Methodist Church and aid- 
ed much in advancing its interest in 
the county. 

. The great difficulty which all the 
early settlers had to encounter— want 
of mine— was overcome in this neigh- 
borhood in a year or two. Creed erect- 
ed a horse mill, which was resorted to 
by distant settlers. Before the build- 
ing of this mill, Fitzpatricks and their 
neighbors were obliged to carry their 

f rain to Porter’s horse mill beyond 
TeW Market. Creed’s mill stood for 
near twenty years and was extremely 
useful. At an early day it was no 
uncommon thing to see half a dozen 
persona at a time setting by a log lire 
out of doors, late in the fall, their 



teams with the gears on hitched close 
by, cracking jokes and patiently wait- 
ing their turn to grind, for at a horse 
mill, which is propelled by hitching 
horses to a sweep which turns round 
and thus works the machinery, each 
man had to take the motive power 
with him and wait till his turn came 
in. It was no uncommon thing for 
men from ten or twelve miles distance 
to have to wait three or four days in a 
throng time before their turn came. 
But those days are past and the boys of 
the present time have no conception of 
the trouble their fathers had when boys 
to get the meal for a dodger. But tfie 
mill boys of those days, in their thin 
half worn linsey roundabouts and 
pants, without shoes, and often bare 
headed, enjoyed themselves much 1 
when they were not too hungry and 
could find a place to parch corn. 
They were healthy and did not mind 
cold and the privations incident to the 
times. 

The first wheat ground on the upper 
Rocky Fork was ground at Creed’s 
horse mill. He was not prepared for 
bolting the flour, but he went to.Chilli- 
cothe and got enough bolting cloth to 
cover an ordinary sieve and fastened it 
on the hoop of one. When any one 
took wheat to the mill one of the girls 
or his wife had to go along and sift the 
flour. The name at that day for this 
substitute for a bolt was a M sarchy 
Esther Fitzpatrick says many a day she 
has stood at the mill sifting the bran 
out of the flour as it was ground. 
This kind of flour she says made most 
excellent bread and was first rate to 
lighten. When it is recollected that 
the wheat thus converted into eatable 
flour, had to be reaped with a sickle, 
thrashed on the ground with a flail 
and winnowed by means of a sheet 
swung by two stout persons, it is not a 
subject of surprise that the sifted flour 
made good tasting bread at least to 
those who produced it with so much 
labor. 

Although game was abundant at this 
date and old Mr. Creed a good hunter, 
yet he did not take time to indulge as 
much as many others. He built a tur- 
key pen near the house, in which he 
caught a large number of turkeys. 
They were thus taken until the family 
became tired of them, when the old man 
would then turn them out to see them 
run. 

A turkey pen is thus described by one 
who has seen them, A pen is built at 
a suitable place of light fence rails, 
commencing at the base a square about 
the size the rails will make and nar- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

rowing in each round to the top, which have gathered up all the corn of course 
is secured. A trench is then cut into they want to go and 9 as is their nature, 
it so deep that a turkey may walk in instead of looking down to the ditch 
easily. Corn is then strewn pretty by which they entered, they constantly 
freely in the trench and over the bot- persist in looking up for a place to get 
tom of the pen. The turkeys com- out. They thus await the pleasure of 
mence picking up the corn some dis- the owner of the pen. Not infrequent- 
tance perhaps from the pen and follow ly whole docks of twenty or thirty 
up the bait in the ditch, until they un- were thus taken, 
consciously enter the pen. After they 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



FREDERICK FAWLEY, JEREMIAH S&fITIT, MATTHEW CREED, JO. HART, MARK 
EASTER, ABRAHAM CLEVENGER AND JESSE AND WM. LUCAS MOVE INTO 
THE COUNTY— A QUEER MARRIAGE FEE— ACCESSIONS TO THE SETTLE- 
MENTS NEAR LEESBURG AND FALL CREEK, COMPOSED OF THE WRIGHTS, 
MORROWS AND PATTONS — COURT RECORDS AND ELECTION RESULTS— 
EARLY TOWNSHIP OFFICERS— JACOB IIIBSTAND LOCATES NEAR SINKING 
SPRINGS— THE ROGERS SETTLEMENT NEAR GREENFIELD, AND EARLY 
TRESBYTERIAN HISTORY. 



The same spring that Fitzpatrick 
moved up from Chillicothe Fredrick 
Fraley moved with his family from 
Pee Pee bottom and settled on the farm 
afterwards owned and occupied by 
Adam Miller, about four miles south- 
east of Hillsborough. His eldest son, 
John, had come up the year before and 
purchased the farm and made some im- 
provement. 

Mr. Fraley moved from Pennsylvania, 
on the banks of the Susquehana, a few 
years before to the Scioto. He was a 
blacksmith and started a shop almost 
immediately on his arrival in Highland, 
having brought his smith tools with 
him from Pennsylvania. This was the 
drst shop of the kind established on 
the waters of the Rocky Fork, except a 
little thing set up by Llewellyn a few 
years before. It was not even an 
apology though, as he knew little or 
nothing about the business and could 
only tinker a little with hot iron. Fra- 
ley was a good workman and made 
everything in his line the country 
needed. He made a great many chop- 
ping axes, for the excellency of which 
ne acquired quite a reputation. He 
also made mattocks, hoes, &c. He was 
esteemed a very industrious and hon- 
est man. The Fraleys were all Metho- 
dists and the father was much esteem- 
ed as an exhorter and leader of his 
class. He died in 1825 or ’6 at the age 



of eighty-four. He had some eccentric- 
ities or rather peculiarities of manner, 
but with all his bluntness was regard- 
ed by all as a good man to the day of 
his death. 

Jeremiah Smith and Matthew Creed, 
jr., came out from Monroe county, 
Virginia, as early as 1804. They made 
a crop for Hugh Evans and worked 
where they could get work to do. 
Shortly after the Fitzpatricks came 
Smith married Sally and settled down 
in the neighborhood of his father-in- 
law. 

The first coffin ever made oh the 
Rocky Fork, that we have any informa- 
tion of, was that made for the corpse 
of George Weaver in the winter of 
1806. Jeremiah Smith was the under- 
taker, being a pretty good carpenter 
and cabinet maker, but owing 6o the 
fact that there were no saw mills yet 
established in the county he had no 
plank, nor could he get any. So he 
was obliged to split the lumber out of 
a walnut log. In dressing up this ma- 
terial Esther and Nancy Fitzpatrick, in 
the spirit characteristic of the pioneer 
girls, assisted him. They worked near- 
ly all night at it in order to have it 
ready by the hour appointed for the 
burial. 

In the spring of 1806 Jo Hart, with 
his family, consisting of two grown 
sons, two daughters and his wife, came 



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A HISTORY 01 HIGHLAND COUNTY k OHIO . 129' 

from North Carolina and stopped at a Quinn was the drat preacher of that, 
big spring on Bocky Fork. They were denomination who preached in that 
very poor and had packed out all the settlement and from that time for more 
way on horseback— the men and girls than twenty years regular preaching 
walking. They built a rough little was had at or near his house. Some 
cabin at the spring and on the faith of years after the settlement was com* 
a “squatter’s claim,” cleared out a menced they built a parsonage-^ a good 
patch of ground, and, by some time in log house of three rooms, one of which 
J une, were ready to plant corn. Being was designed for a meeting house on 
all hunters they relied more on the meeting days and a dwelling house the 
woods for subsistence than any other remainder of the time. It had a pulpit 
resource. The old man was addicted to fixed in one corner and movable seats, 
drink and followed hunting almost en- The young generation, which was very 
tirely for a livelihood. numerous, are pretty much all scatter* 

Mark Faster, with his three sons, ed. Many of them are dead, and many 
Adam, John and Jacob, and one son-in- have emigrated tb the West. A few 

law, Evans, came from Pennsyl* yet reside in this county and are very 

vania in the spring of 1806, and having worthy citizens. Basil was the young- 
purchased five hundred acres of land est of all. He was a worthy member 
on Churn Creek, a small tributary of of the Methodist Church over sixty 
the Bocky Fork, divided out the land years, near forty of which he was lead* 
equally among the four. They all set- er of a class. The first sermon even 
tied down, built cabins, made improve- preached in Ohio by James Quinn, 
ments, reared large fiunilies, and are (says Basil Lucas) was preached in the 
now dead. John Criger came out with cabin of William Lucas* at the Gift 
them. He also settled down in the Bidge, on the Ohio Biver, and his first 
same neighborhood, where he contin- in the Lucas settlement in this county, 
ued to reside until his death. in the cabin of the same William Lucas. 

About 1804 Abraham Clevenger James Quinn also preached his funeral 
came from Kentucky and settled on a many years after at the parsonage, the 
piece of land on the Bocky Fork, first meeting house erected in the set- 
Clevenger acquired this farm as com- tlement. All the first pioneer preach* 
pensation for clearing a number of era, says Mr; Basil Lucas, took for 
acres of land on a tract belonging to a “quarterage” all kinds of produce, such 
man in Kentucky by the name of as fiour, meat, potatoes, com, hackled 
Blinco. His land lay on a small stream fiax, &c. . The first marriage in the sefc 
crossed at this day by the turnpike east tlement was at the cabin of Jesse 
of Hillsborough, nearly opposite the Lucas— then a Justice of the Peace, 
residence of Daniel Miller. This was The groom’s name was Obediah Mc- 
the first improvement made on the Kinney— the marriage fee was one 
creek and from the owner of it the bushel of hulled walnuts, 
stream has since borne the name of This year (1806) Heth Hart, father of 
Blinco. * Joel, with his family, arrived from 

Jesse and William Lucas built cabins North Carolina at Nat Pope’s. Heth 
and cleared some land on Blinco in the was a famous— a mighty hunter, in- 
spring of 1806. The Lucases came deed, and he carried a rifle of propor- 
from Pennsylvania. There were six tionate calibre— capable of throwing 
brothers of them, all married and with an ounce ball to a great distance for 
families of children/ They came down those days, and with such unerring aim 
the river from Bedstone and stopped at as to prove fatal to whatever unlueky 
or near Manchester, where they made a “varmint’’ happened within its range. 
<jrop. Jesse came up into Highland Shortly after he came out he erected a 
and purchased five hundred acres of cabin at a spring at the upper side of 
land pn Blinco. The next winter or George Wilsoms orchard, on Clear 
spring he and William moved up. Creek— the farm afterward owned by 
Richard, Basil and Charles came up Albert Swearingen and converted into 
shortly after and settled in the vicinity a vineyard. This cabin was most 
of their brothers. James did not come characteristic in appearance. It was 
for some time afterwards. He bought built on the general model of the prim- 
out Borter Sumner. The farm where itive “rough log cabin” of the time, but 
Jesse settled was afterwards owned the exterior was literally covered with 
and occupied by C. Berch Miller. The the trophies of the chase. The buck 
old folks of tnis neighborhood were horns were generally tossed up on the 
Methodists and regular preaching cir- roof, until, from the vast quantity slain 
cuit was established at William’s by Heth, it became covered; while the 
house in the fall of 1806. James sides and ends were literally plastered 

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*30 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



with the stretched skinf of every varie- 
ty of wild animat from deer down to 
raccoon. In the interior were stowed 
bears’ skins, beaver, fox and all kinds 
of peltries known in this country as 
valuable in those days. Added to these 
were the carcasses ot deer hanging 
against the walls, from which the fam- 
ily cut and eat as hunger or inclination 
prompted* Their beds were skins of 
animals and the ponderous rifle, toma- 
hawk and shot pouch of otter skin, the 
skin of the face of the animal, nose 
down, swung for the hap, hung, when 
not in use, the first on two wooden 
hooks over the door and the others at 
the side, convenient* at a moment’s 
warning to be put in immediate requi- 
sition. 

Hath and his sons followed the chase 
for many yeats, making hills resound 
with the reports of their rifles, old 
Heth’s being easily distinguished from 
all others by its unusually heavy re- 
port. Indeed, to the people of the time 
it was known for miles around. They 
could always tell when “old Heth” was 
out and tradition has it that his rihe 
could be heard reverberating through 
the still woods and over the hill as far 
as a four pounder. Heth was a man of 
decided mark. His nose was diseased 
and grew constantly larger and redder 
to the day of his death, and c when he 
used to range the Clear Creek and 
Kocky Fork hills, as was always an- 
nounced by the boom of his big gun, he 
wore moccasins, leather leggins, hunt- 
ing shirt and fox skin cap, and his tre- 
mendous large and fiery looking nose 
was generally the first part of Heth 
that became visible through the brush 
after the report of his gun was heard. 

Game was very abundant*at the date 
of which we speak (1806), not only on 
Clear Creek, but all over the county. 
“I have known our neighbor, Joseph 
Swearingen,” says an early settler on 
Clear Creek, “often to come home in the 
evening when the snow was on the 
ground, with a deer before him on his 
horse ‘Faddy,* and one other tied to 
his tail, dragging behind.” 

Daniel Huff, sr., came from Surrey 
county. North Carolina, in 1806, and 
bought the land on which Jehu Beeson 
afterward resided, where he made an 
improvement. He moved his family 
out the next year and became a perma- 
nent citizen. Daniel was a member of 
the Society of Friends and his descend- 
ants still reside in this county, most 
worthy citizens, who strictly adhere to 
the faith and religious customs of their 
ancestor. 

There, were numerous accessions to 



the Clear and Fall Creek settlements 
during the summer and fall of 1806. 
William Wright— Quaker Billy, as be 
was called — came from Tennessee and 
settled on Hardin’s Creek in the neigh- 
borhood of Beverly Milner, a most es- 
teemed citizen. David Mitchell came 
from Kentucky with his family and 
settled on the farm afterward owned 
and occupied by Major John W. Wool- 
las. William Morrow, also from Ken- 
tucky, came with his family and set- 
tled on the farm afterward owned and 
occupied by his son Joseph. He was a 
member of the Presbyterian denomina- 
tion and up to the time of his death 
was a valuable citizen and an honest, 
good man. Alexander and James 
Wright, from Kentucky, came the same 
year alnd settled in the same neighbor- 
hood. The father of William, Joseph 
and James Patton came from Ken- 
tucky the following year and settled on 
Fall Creek. These were the old stock 
and were, in their day, prominent and 
useful citizens. Many of their de- 
scenders now reside in the county and 
a part of them occupy the same farms 
on which their fathers made their im- 
provements fifty years ago. They are 
all most wort ay citizens. 

During 1806 and *06 the whole of the 
Fall Creek country filled up and we re- 
gret our inability to give the names of 
all the settlers. This Fall Creek region 
embraced the best lands of the county 
and was much sought after at that day. 

In October of this year (1806) the first 
Supreme Court for the county of High- 
land was held at New Market by 
Judges Ethan Allen and W, W. Irwin. 
The only case tried at this term was 
Isaac Collins against Joseph Kerr— 
appeal. It was an action of covenant, 
named in another chapter of this his- 
tory. The issue being joined, the fol- 
lowing jurors were empanneled to try 
it, to- wit: Samuel Evans, Oliver Boss, 
Jacob Medsker, Jacob Kite. Allen 
Trimble, Jacob Coffman, Philip Wil- 
kin, Joseph Swearingen, Samuel Mc- 
Quitty, Frederick Miller, William 
Keys and Elijah Kirkpatrick, who, in 
the language of the record, being elect- 
ed, tried and sworn, find a verdict in 
these words: “In this case the jury- 
find the defendant hath not kept and 
performed his covenant, &c. They, 
therefore, find for the plaintiff to re- 
cover of the defendant the sum of six!* 
hundred and fifty dollars arid fifty 
cents damage.” Thereupon the cause 
-was continued on motion of defendant’s 
counsel for a new trial until October 
term, 1808. This closes the business of 
the first Supreme Court of the 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 131 



county. The attorneys in the case 
were James Scott and William Creigh- 
ton, jr. In connection with this is an 
order of the Commissioners of the 
county, that Abraham J. Williams re- 
ceive twenty dollars for attending as 
Prosecuting Attorney at the term of 
the Supreme Ccrtirt held on the 10th 
day of October, 1806, and for the Octo- 
ber term of the Court of Common 
Pleas for Highland county. 

Jn October of this year an election 
took place in Highland for member of 
Congress, State Senate, &c. Jeremiah 
Morrow and James Prichard were the 
candidates for Congress. Elias Lang- 
ham and Abraham Claypole for the 
State Senate. James Dunlap, James 
Johnson, Henry Brush, John A. Ful- 
ton, Nathaniel Massie, David Shelby 
and Abraham J. Williams, for Repre- 
sentative. Bigger Head, George W. 
Barrere, Ezekiel Kelly, Alex. Fullerton 
and Joseph Quillin, for Commissioner. 
It appears by the names of the candi- 
dates at this election that Highland 
and Ross counties formed one District 
for Senator and Representative. The 
official returns of this election on file in 
the Clerk’s Office of this county, show 
that Jeremiah Morrow received one 
hundred and sixteen votes for Congress 
and James Prichard one hundred and 
twenty-two. Elias Langham received 
one hundred and f orth-four votes for 
State Senate and Abraham Claypole 
one hundred and eighteen. For Repre- 
sentative, James Dunlap received two 
hundred and iifty-nine, James Johnson 
one hundred and - lifty-seven, Henry 
Brush one hundred and twenty-nine, 
John A. Fulton one hundred, Nathan- 
iel Massie one hundred and thirty-nine, 
Abraham J. Williams one hundred and 
twenty-five and David Shelby one hun- 
dred and twenty-three. For Commis- 
sioner, Bigger Head received one hun- 
dred and fifteen votes, Ezekiel Kelley 
eighteen, G. W. Barrere one hundred 
and twenty-four, x\lex. Fullerton ten 
and Joseph Quillin two. It appears 
that G. W. Barrere was elected Com- 
missioner. As to the other candidates, 
their votes in Ross not being within 
our reach, we are unable to say who 
was successful for Senator and Repre- 
sentative. Morrow was elected to 
Congress. 

This appears to have been one of the 
good, honest, old-fashioned kind of 
elections, in which all citizens were 
permitted to be candidates who chose 
and each voter could vote for the man 
who pleased him best, without saying 
“by your leave” to the petty managers 
of any party. Indeed, as far as we 4 are 



able to learn there were no parties 
known in this county at that day, and 
every man ran on his olwn merits— but 
eighty years have worked a mighty 
change and a contemplation of the ef- 
fect causes many a manly, honest wish 
for the good* old days of the past, in 
politics, if not in anything? else. Men 
were honester and better in those days 
— more hospitable, patriotic and trust- 
worthy, and the present, with all its 
improvements, suffers greatly when 
contrasted with the days of eighty years 
ago, in every thing save the skill and 
success in getting the dollar. 

The Trustees of New Market town- 
ship this year (1806) were James B. 
Finley, Joseph Davidson and Hector 
Mucphy. James Fanning and \V illiam 
Curry, clerks of the election. In Lib- 
erty township, Edward Chaney, Amos 
Evans and ltobert Fitzpatrick; Samuel 
E vans and Reason Moberly, clerks. In 
Fairfield township, Joseph Hoggatt, 
John B. Beals and William LuptOn; B. 
H. Johnson and John Tod hunter, 
clerks of the election. In Brushcreek 
township, there appears only two 
judges of the election this year, to- wit: 
Peter Moore and James Cummins, and 
Jonathan Boyd and William Head, 
clerks. The election for Liberty town- 
ship was held at Capt. William Hill’s 
on Clear Creek. The Fairfield election 
was held this year at Beverly Milner's. 
At the same election Samuel Littler 
was elected Justice of the Peace, and 
DimDsey Caps Constable for Fairfield. 

In* the fall of 1805 or the spring of 
1806 Reason Moberly came with his 
family from Maryland and settled oh 
Clear Creek. He was an honest, in- 
dustrious citizen and left a large fami- 
ly of sons and daughters, some of 
whom still reside in tne county. Mr. 
Moberly has been dead many years. • 

This year (1806) Jacob Hiestand, ar.* 
moved from Bottetourt county, Vir- 
ginia, to Ohio, and purchased the land 
on which the town of Sinking Spring 
now stands. Some time after he set- 
tled on this land he conceived the idea 
of laying oif a town on it, and went so 
far as to survey and make a plat. But 
the membera of his church, after con- 
siderable deliberation, came to the con- 
clusion that making towns and selling 
town lots was an anti-Christian trans- 
action and advised him to abandon the 
enterprise. He complied with their 
wishes and stopped proceedings. We 
are not able to say to what denomina- 
tion of Christians Mr. Hiestand belong- 
ed; certain it is, however, that he gave 
up all idea of being proprietor of a 
town and some time afterwards sold 



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132 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



the ground on which he surveyed the 
town to Allen Gulliford, who came 
from Virginia in 1806, and his son 
Joseph Hiestand, jr., who subsequently 
finished the work of establishing a 
town. * 

The settlement commenced in the 
fall of 1806 by William Rogers and his 
brother, four miles below Greenfield on 
Paint, near the mouth of Rattlesnake, 
began in the following spring to re- 
ceive considerable accessions of re- 
spectable and permanent citizens, and 
became thenceforth a nucleus about 
which an interesting community col- 
lected. William Rogers married and 
moved into his cabin this spring (1806). 
This neighborhood was composed prin- 
cipally or Presbyterians and about this 
time they began to look about for a 
minister of their denomination. Dur- 
ing the year the Rev. James 
Hoge, who had an interest in a 
large tract of land including the mouth 
of JIardin's Creek, came to look after 
his lands and of course made the ac- 
quaintance of the Rogers settlement. 
Whilst he was among them they erect- 
ed a stand in the woods at a fine spring 
on Rattlesnake on the farm where 
David Strain first settled, which was 
a part of the land then owned by Mr. 
Hoge. Here was preached the first 
gospel sermon, perhaps, in the present 
township of Madison, and from 
this beginning a church was or- 
ganized which took the name of Rocky 
Spring, in memory of Rocky Spring in 
Pennsylvania, from which Mr. John 
Wilson came, who named it. This was 
the first Presbyterian Church in High- 
land county and included at first all the 
Greenfield and Fall Creek settlements. 
The first settled pastor of this church 
was the Rev. Nicholas Pittenger from 
Pennsylvania. He came do visit the 
county with a view to'a permanent set- 
tlement in 1809, and moved out the fol- 
lowing year. His labors, in. the lan- 
guage of a venerable elder of the church, 
“were blessed to the building of a large 
congregation, which at One time num- 
bered over three hundred communi- 
cants.” “This eminent servant of 
God,” says the Elder, “was a workman 
who was neither ashamed nor afraid 
to preach the truth and the whole 
truth, not fearing the consequences, 
and but few were ever more blessed in 
their labors.” 

The first set of Elders elected and or- 
dained in this church were James 
Watts, Samuel Strain, George Adare, 
Samuel McConnel and William Garrett. 
The first burialin the church yard was 
a son of Thomas Rogers. Mr. Pitten- 



ger continued to serve this church for 
some thirteen or fourteen years. He 
then left for a few years and again re- 
turned and spent his last days among 
his fifst congregation in Highland, and 
his mortal remains were laid in the 
Rocky Spring grave yard in the year 
1838. ' # 

The Presbyterians organised a 
church on Clear Creek, says Col. Keys, 
in 1806, which was served by the Rev. 
Robert Dobbins part of ope year. 
This, after several removals, finally 
settled in and is the nucleus around 
which has been gathered the Presby- 
terian Church of Hillsborough: 

The first place of preaching was at a 
cabin-built school house on the land ot 
Samuel Evans. The Rev. Dobbins offi- 
ciated at the organization of the con- 
gregation. At this organization there 
were two Elders elected, to-wit: David 
Jolly and William Keys, The church 
at this time consisted of five members 
only, three of whom were women. The 
Rev. James Hoge occasionally preach* 
ed for them without charge. 

The name given to this congregation 
and which it retained while located in 
the country, was Nazareth. The first 
church built by them was a hewed log 
house on a plot of ground owned by 
Richard Evans, near the mill on Clear 
Creek, afterward owned by Mr. Wor- 
ley. This house was erected about 
1809. . 

The interest of the congregation soon 
made it necessary to remove their 
place of worship to Hillsborough. It 
seems to be the opinion and policy, 
says Col. Keys, of all Christian denomi- 
nations, that when a town is laid out, 
especially a county seat, there the 
places of worship should be first estab- 
lished, otherwise they are apt to be- 
come dens of revelry and dissipation. 

The Presbytery to which this church 
(Nazareth) was attached, included 
members residing in Kentucky, and all 
belonged to Washington Presbytery, 
chiefly, if not all, in Kentucky. 1 re- 
member, says the Colonel, an incident 
which occurred at the first Presbytery 
held in Highland county, which was 
appointed to meet at Nazareth Church. 
The Rev. Joshua L. Wilson, of Cincin- 
nati, had recently moved to that place 
and wanted to attach himself to the 
Presbytery about to meet at Nazareth. 
He came on the road, then recently cut 
through Williamsburg, inquiring at 
every clearing he passed for Nazareth 
Church, but none of the new settlers 
had ever heard of such a place this side 
the land of Israel; he began to think 
he would never find it, unless he went 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO . 



m 



to Canaan. He, however, found it at 
last, at the above named log school 
house. 

At that day, owing to the smallness 
of the meeting houses, the congrega- 
tions that assembled in good weather 
could not be accommodated in the 
hfluse. Meetings Were* therefore, often 
held in some pleasant gtbVe adjacent. 
The preachers occupied a tent made of 
slabs of planks, as could be most easily 
procured. The benches were made of 
slabs, split logs, or flat rails. Some 
times round logs answered the pur- 
pose for seats. The canopy above was 
the blue sky and the carpet beneath 
their feet the fallen autumn leaves or 
the green sward; yet the people enjoy- 
ed these meetings and counted them 
precious seasons. 

These were primitive times, every- 
thing was in its youthful simplicity, 
and X have no doubt, says Col. Keys, the 
people often enjoyed the same feelings 
find solemn sensations that John the 
Baptist’s hearers did, when he deliver* 
ed his soul-stirring discourses at Enon. 

The next year (1807) the Associate 
Reform Presbyterians organized a con- 
gregation on Fall Creek on the land of 
William Morrow. The Rev. Samuel 
Carothers served them as an occasional 
supply— preaching at Mr. Morrow’s 
house and sometimes in the adjoining 
grove. The congregation sometime 
after built a meeting house which they 
and their successors yet occupy as a 
place of worship. 

Josiah Tomlinson, from Bowen coun- 
ty, North Carolina, arrived with his fam- 
ily in Highland county, on the last day 
of October, 1806. He had been out the 
previous fall and purchased a tract of 
land from N. Pope. A four horse wagon 
was the means by which he transported 
his family and property. They were 
five ^ weeks on the way — came through 
Kentucky, and crossing the river at 
Maysville passed on north through New 
Market to the Anderson State Road, the 
east end of which, from the point where 
they struck it, was then taken. It led 
them to within a mile and a half of their 
land, which lay to the south, and is the 
same on which Moses Tomlinson after- 
ward resided. They brought some cat- 
tle with them, but no other stock ex- 
cept their horses. 

It was a very dold evening of the Ha' 
on which they arrived —snow on iuu 
ground. Sometime after dark t imy 
reached Borter Sumner’s cabin mar 
their land, but being determined to bl*i)» 
on their own place— at home, if it wa* in 
the wilderness, they refused his pmfer- 
ed hospitalities, and he made a torch 



and piloted them to a spring on their 
land. When they reached the spring 
they stretched their tent, under which 
they had slept for so many nights on the 
way, and after partaking of a hearty cold 
supper, retired to lest on their own soil. 

The next day they cut down an oak 
tree and made clap boards sufficient to 
build a temporary shed under which to 
stay till a better could be provided. 
They then went to ttotk and cut logs, 
“scutched” them on two sides and bnift 
a cabin. For a floor, they be Wed 
puncheons, built a chimney in the usual 
mode at that day of “cat And clay,” and 
made the door 61 clap boards. 

During that winter and the following 
spring they cleared out about ten acres of 
corn land. They had to pay fourteen 
cents for iron and go to a Mr. Bilcher in 
the Evans settlement to get tbeir black- 
smithing* During the summer follow- 
ing the squirrels were like to eat their 
crops bodily. They had to go up to 
Allen Trimble's to get powder to kill 
them* 

After they got the cabin finished and 
moved into it, Moses concluded he 
would take a hunt and getsome venison. 
So he took his gun and dog and started 
out. He soon found some deer, but 
could not get a shot. He followed their 
white flags, as he says, all day, without 
killing any. The day was dark and 
cloudy ana towards night he found him- 
self very tired, and to make the matter 
worse, lost. He wandered on till night, 
when he found he would have to camp 
out. After searching for a suitable 
place he stopped and attempted to strike 
tire, but could not succeed in kindling 
the wood he had prepared. There 
seemed to bean utter impossibility 4o 
get it to burn. Finally be gave it up, 
and overcome with the fatigue of the 
day, he tumbled down and tried to 
sleep, but was prevented by bis dog, 
who being more Successful as a hunter 
than his master, had caught and killed a 
skunk close to where Moses was crouch- 
ed. This kept up such a stench all 
night, as effectually to drive away all 
hope of rest or sleep. He found after- 
wards that be spent the night near 
where Rainsboro now stands. 

During the fall Moses had an invita- 
tion over to their neighbor, Jo Hart’s, to 
a corn husking. He recollected the 
good suppers he used to find at similar 
gatherings in old North Carolina, and 
concluded he would go and get a good 
supper at least. This was the first 
husking he was at in the county. The. 
corn had been planted late in June and 
was soft. After they had husked some 
time, he observed one Q& the sons qf 



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134 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



Haiit selecting ears of corn as he liusked 
and laying them on one side till he got 
an armful of tolerably hard corn. This 
he took to a log near them and putting it 
in a large notch in the log, commenced 
pounding the grains off, for they would 
not shell the ordinary way. He contin- 
ued on founding the gram until he re- 
duced it to something like meal, which 
he gathered out and carried into the 
cabin. 

When the husking was done the 
hands were invited in to supper. They 
entered the cabin which was most prim- 
itive in all its appointments. All along 
the sides were piled up the carcasses of 
deer, some of which were so old that 
they looked as dark as an old saddle 
skirt, while the entire floor was carpeted 
with deer skins, hair up. By the fire, 
when the company entered, sat the old 

oman — Hart’s wife, who was said to be 

art Indian, on a kind of pillow made of 

uck skin and filled with deer hair. 
She was a cripple and sat close to the 
fire baking hoe cakes of the meal young 
Hart had pounded in the notch, on an 
oven lid. The first thing which struck 
Moses after this was the little cloud of 
deer hair— which is naturally vei j light 
— rising from the floor and floating, by 
the draft of the chimney, over the bak* 
ing bread. How much fell on it he did 
not discover. The supper consisted of 
boiled venison and these hoe cakes. 
Fortunately for the stomachs of the 
huskers they had become very hungry, 
and were, therefore, able to bolt suffi- 
cient to satisfy their appetites for a time. 

The old man Tomlinson frequently 
bought venison of Hart, who sold it at 
thirty-seven and a half cents a carcass. 
The Tomlinsons got permission to grind 
their corn on Joseph Spargur’s hand 
mill. It was double rigged, and two 
could work at a time. The boys, who 
had to work it themselves, soon discov- 
ered that the coarser the mill was set 
the easier it worked. So they frequent- 
ly ground the meal so coarse that it 
would almost do to shoot woodpeckers. 

There was a wonderful beech mast on 
the creek (Rocky Fork) that year and 
wild turkeys were very fat and abund- 
ant. A horse load could bo obtained in 
h short time. That year in December 
was the celebrated “cool Friday,” so 
memorable to early settlers. 

Josiah Tomlinson and his family were 
of the Society of Friends, known as 
Quakers. He has long since been dead. 

The first contested election in High- 
land county was that of County Com- 
missioner. At the election in October, 
1806, Bigger Head, one of the candidates, 
was found to be only a few vdtes behind 



the successful candidate, G. W. Barrere. 
From information' communicated to him 
by citizens of New Market, Head was in- 
duced to believe that a number of illegal 
votes had been polled in that township 
for Barrere, sufficient, if purged from 
the ballot box, to leave him the highest 
number of legal votes in the county. 
He accordingly took all the necessary 
steps to contest Barrere’s right to the 
office, but after considerable expense 
and trouble, failed — Barrere being de- 
clared legally elected. 

The first Pottery established in High- 
land was in 1806, by Richard Iliff, at 
what ja now known as the Eagle 
Spring, a mile southwest of the Court 
House. Iliff was a Pennsylvanian and 
emigrated to the “high banks of the 
Scioto” two years before, and establish- 
ed a Pottery there, but was so much 
afflicted with fever ahd' ague that he 
abandoned the enterprise in that region 
and took his course up the Rocky Fork 
to his brother-in-law’s, James Smith. 
After recruiting his health, Iliff “squat- 
ted” at the Eagle Spring, having se- 
lected that point for its vicinity to a 
bed of good potter’s clay. He erected 
the necessary buildings of light logs, 
and then moulded and burned thp first 
brick made in the county, (summer of 
1806,) to build his kiln to bake thp 
crocks. Having cleared off some 
ground and planted Corn and fenced it 
all— pottery atul corn field — with a Sub- 
stantial brush fence, he commenced 
making crocks for the new comers. 
He was an odd looking, though esteem- 
ed a clever, worthy man, being six feet 
four inches in his socks, and as gaunt 
and slender as a fence rail. This es- 
tablishment soon became & place of 
considerable note, and Iliff drove a 
flourishing business. He continued his 
Pottery there until Hillsborough was 
located and something of a towh of 
cabins built; he then “moved into 
town,” and established Ins Pottery on 
the ground now occupied by the depot. 
Amariah Gossett learned his trade 
with Iliff, whilst he carried on at the 
Spring. Gossett, previous to this, had 
been following the business of sawing 
plank with a ‘ whip saw.” The reader 
has been already told that there were 
no saw mills up to this date in the 
country— that all the boards used in 
the construction of the rude cabins 
were split from the solid timber. 
When, however, as the country grew a 
little older and some one fancied a 
hewed log house would be more re- 
spectable, if not more comfortable than 
the old cabin, he had to make arrange- 
ments for plank. To meet this demand 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 135 



the whip saw— the pioneer of saws in 
this county— w r as put in requisition and 
Gossett, though comparatively a bby, 
engaged in the laborious business. He 
had assisted an Irishman by the name 
of McCauley to saw the plank neces- 
sary ior his father’s mill. After this 
lie formed a partnership with Mc- 
Cauley to go over the country with the 
whip saw and cut timber for tvhoever 
might want their' services. The first 
place they went was to Hector Mur- 
phy's on Smoky Row. He was build- 
ing a large two stpry log house and 
Gossett & McCauley contracted for the 
plant/ They sawed twp thousand feet, 
all cherry. They were able, by hard 
work, to cut two hundred feet per day, 
for which they received two dollars 
per hundred. Their next contract was 
at David Jolly’s, where they sawed two* 
thousand feet, principally cherry, for 
his .two story log. house. They also 
sawed for Moses Patterson and other 
of the citizens of that day who erected 
the very peculiar hewed log two story 
houses so common ip this county fifty 
years ago. Rut few of this style of 
house now remain in the county: It 
marked the third step in improvement 
of dwellings. These houses were built 
of heavy, well hewed oak logs, notched 
down pretty close, corners sawed off 
square and neat— chinked with stone 
and daubed with pure white lime in- 
side and out. The exterior of one of 
these houses, after the logs had black- 
ened with the weather, presented a 
pretty and novel striped appearance, as 
it stood in all its great strength, prom- 
ising much comfort and good cheer, on 
the brow of the hill near the spring, 
half concealed from the road by the 
graceful forms of native sugar, elm 
and ash, with a back ground of young 
apples tree, and rugged fields full of 
stumps and dead timber. They were 
“underpinned” with stone, pointed with 
lime iieatlv. ' The chimney was also of 
stone— generally a stack-pointed with 
lime. The doors and windows were 
cased with cherry plank— floors of ash 
plank, laid down tight, and white as 
snoW.’ The upper floor was tightly laid 
down bn very neatly dressed joists, 
beaded on the lower side. These joists 
were generally made of cherry. The 
roof was of lap shingles, and hearth of 
flag stones. The main house was two 
stories, at the end of which, and joined 
to it, was the kitchen, which was only 
ond story. In this the cooking wa3 
done in a stone fire place, eight feet 
long/three deep and five high. The 
loom, which was still a necessary im- 
plement in every farm house, stood in 



one corner of this capacious kitchen. 
The main' building, on the lower floor, 
was generally cut near the center, by a 
tight plank partition, the back of 
which was again divided by another 
partition, making two bed rooms. A 
stairway Led to the upper story, which 
was generally in one large room, and 
used for quiltings, sleeping apartments 
for the children, &c. These houses 
were very durable and in their, day the 
best in the county, 

William Vannoy, with his widowed 
mother and her children, moved up 
from Adams county into Highland and 
settled on Brush creek in the, spring of 
1806. His father, John Vannoy, moved 
out from Kentucky and settled in 
Adams county in 1804, 

Jacob Barnes and wife, John Barnes 
and family, and Michael Dugan arrived 
at New Market, in Highland county, on, 
the 10th day of June, 1806. The 
Barneses were natives of Berkley coun- 
ty, Virginia, where Jacob was married 
in 1805. Soon after this he started for 
the West. He packed his little proper- 
ty on a horse, Mrs. Barnes walking and 
riding, as it suited best, her husband 
walking find carrying his rifle. They 
thus arrived at the Redstoqe settle- 
ment in the fall of 1805. In the spring 
they were joined here by John Barnes 
and family and they all came down the 
river to Manchester in a little flat boat. 
John Barnes, settled about six miles 
northwest of New Market, where he 
continued a very worthy citizen and 
reared a large family. Jacob Barnes 
was a member of Capt. G. W. Barrere’s 
Company in the war of 1812. 

The first blacksmith shop established 
in the town of New Market was by 
George Charles, Old Mrs. Bloom, 
Christian Bloom's wife, made the gin- 
ger bread for the people in the early 
days of the ancient capital of High- 
land. Fritz Miller commenced tailor- 
ing in New Market and was the first 
tailor there, as well as the first mer- 
chant, after he closed his store. He 
was much esteemed as a cutter and 
maker of buckskin breeches, and haq 
an extensive run of custom. In later 
years, for he stuck to tailoring the re- 
mainder of his life, after buckskin be^ 
came rather unfashionable in town, he 
went round the country “whipping the 
cat,” as it was termed, which means; 
doing the tailoring of a family at the 
house and then going to the next. He 
found plenty of work on buckskins 
Among the farmers, and was perhaps 
the last man in the county who made a 
scientific pair of buckskin breeches. 

During this year Samuel Hindman 



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was elected an additional Justice of 
the Peace for New Market township. 
John Davidson was a Constable for 
New Market township this year (1806). 

The iirst school taught in Liberty 
township was in a little log school 
house on the land of Samuel Evans in 
the winter of 1805-06, and John Mat- 
thews was the teacher. 

In 1806 or ’07 Asa Hunt, a Quaker 
who came out from North Carolina a 
year before, erected a small water mill 
ati the falls of Swearingen’s branch, 
wheire he lived. This mill afforded 
considerable accommodation to the 
neighborhood. 

Shortly after this Amos Evans erect- 
ed ‘a small tub mill on Clear Creek, 
near his house, where the bare footed 
boys from all quarters were almost 
weekly seen waiting the slow process 
of cracking the corn into hominy or 
meal as was required. Old Edward 
Chaney was the miller, who always 
had a Kind and cheerful Word for the 
boys, frequently entertaining them 
with a game of “fox and geese,” with 

f grains of corn, while their grist was 
azily passing out of the hopper. 

Hominy in the winter in the early 
days on Clear Creek was almost indis- 
pensable and to prepare it in good 
style by pounding in the usual way in 



a mortar with an iron wedge fastened 
to a pestle, a most laborious process. 
At the spring at which the Trimbles 
settled there was quite a fall in the 
branch— perhaps as much as twelve 
feet in the one hundred yards. This 
suggested the idea to Allen Trimble of 
a hominy mill by water, and he went 
to work and constructed one, which, 
though cheap and simple, was efficient 
and constant at its workday and night, 
supplying the family as well as many 
of their neighbors, with their daily 
mess. This little mill is thus described 
by one who remembers it: “The water 
was conducted from the spring along 
the bank of the branch, on a level, to a 
point below, where there was sufficient 
fall, and then by a trough elevated on 
forks at right angles with the main 
channel, it was conducted into a sugar 
trough on the end of a sweep, which 
being filled, bore down that end of the 
sweep, which like a see-saw elevated 
the opposite end, to which was attach- 
ed a pestle that played in a mortar 
block filled with a peck or a half 
bushel of corn.” Slow and regular as 
the beat of the pendulum, the hominy 
mill did its work— day and night, 
turning out in good order this great 
necessary of the early settler. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 



* 

COMMON, PLEAS COURT RECORDS— ESTABLISHMENT OF A PERMANENT SEAT OF 
JUSTICE FOR HIGHLAND COUNTY— NAMES OF MALE INHABITANTS OVER 
TWENTY-ONE YEARS OF AGE. 



The first term of the Highland Com- 
mon Pleas for the year 1807, is thus re- 
corded: “At a Court of Common Pleas 
begun and held in the town or New 
Market, on the 25th day of February, 
one thousand eight hundred and seven, 
present the Honorable Leven Belt, 
Esquire, President, Richard Evans, 
Jonathan Berryman ana John David- 
son, Esqs., Associate Judges.” Tills 
term of Court lasted two days, during 
which a number of small cases, chiefly 
of a criminal nature, were disposed of. 
Judge Belt w as elected the preceding 
session of the Legislature to fill the 
vacancy occasioned by the resignation 
of Judge Slaughter. Slaughter was a 
young man at that day of much 
promise. He had emigrated from Vir- 



ginia, and settled at Chillicothe as a 
lawyer. After serving two years as 
Judge he became satisfied that an in- 
veterate habit of gambling, which he 
had contracted, ana which had grown 
into a passion, absorbing his whole 
thoughts, and which he either had not 
the power or inclination to control, 
utterly disqualified him for the duties 
of a Judge. It is said he would sit up 
all night, night after night, during a 
term of Court, gaming, and even ad- 
journ Court for that purpose. He 
went back to the bar, and soon after 
moved to Lancaster, where he entered 
upon a lucrative practice. Judge 
Slaughter represented Fairfield county 
in the State Legislature several ses- 
sions afterwards and was esteemed an 



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A HISTORY 01 HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO; 



able member, though somewhat eccen- 
tric, 

At the February term of Court, 1807, 
appears the following entry: “Agree- 
ably to an act of the last Legislature, 
entitled an act establishing the perma- 
nent seat of justice in the county of 
Highland, the Court have elected 
David Hays as Director. ’ This ap- 
pointment was made in pursuance of a 
statute passed March, 1803. The Com- 
missioners appointed by the Legislature 
to survey the county and establish the 
seat of justice have been named in a 
preceding chapter of this history. The 
statute made it their duty to report to 
the Court of Common Pleas, on which 
report the Court were authorized to ap- 
point a Director, “who, after giving 
sufficient surety for his faithful per- 
formance, shall be— in the language of 
the statute— fully authorized to pur- 
chase the land— if the commissioners 
selected a site not already appropriated 
by a town— of the proprietor or pro- 
prietors, for the use and behoof of the 
county, and proceed to lay off said land 
into lots, streets and alleys, under such 
regulations as the Court may prescribe; 
and the said Director is hereby author- 
ized to dispose of .the said lots, either at 
public or private sale, as the Court may 
think proper, and to make a legal con- 
veyance of the same in fee simple to 
the purchaser; provided, the land pur- 
chased and laid off in lots shall not ex- 
ceed seven hundred acres.” This stat- 
ute further required that the first pro- 
ceeds of the sale of the lots should be 
applied to the payment of the land and 
defraying the necessary expenses of 
laying off the lots, and the residue of 
the money paid into the county treas- 
ury. 

During the February term a fellow 
was arraigned at the bar on a charge 
of having borrowed a neighbor’s saddle 
without his knowledge or consent. 
The Court ordered the Sheriff to keep 
the accused in custody, together with 
two others charged with riotous and 
disorderly conduct, until they could 
have a trial by a jury of their peers. 
The Sheriff led the delinquents to a 
small cabin hard by, and formally “in- 
carcerated” them therein; but whilst 
he was laboring to effectually secure 
the clapboard door on the outside with 
a hickory withe, so as to warrant the 
safe custody of his three prisoners, 
they were on the alert on the inside 
and found a wide aperture between 
the logs, through which they all crept 
and coolly walked off. 

At that time it was regarded by 
many in* and around New Market, as 



one of the new f angled heresies of the 
age, the idea of getting good drinking 
water by digging in the ground. They 
argued that none but the old-fashioned, 
simon-pure, natural spring water was 
designed or fit for man to swallow, and 
some there were in that enlightened day 
at the then county seat of Highland, 
who, it is said, actually thought it sin- 
ful and as tempting Providence to dig a 
well. But notwithstanding all these 
expressions of faith and opinion, G. W. 
Barrere, who was a man of his own 
mind, and comparatively free from all 
bigotry and superstition, needed water 
more convenient than the public 
spring, and set to work to dig a well on 
his lot, which by the time of whiph we 
speak, had been sunk from ten to 
fifteen feet deep, but as yet was quite 
dry, no water having been reached. 

The prisoners, when they escaped 
from the cabin, made no effort to get 
away, well knowing that there was no 
jail and thinking there was no other 
place in which they could be securely 
confined. The Sheriff retook them im- 
mediately, and by a happy presence of 
mind marched them to Barrere’s new 
well, into which he thrust the whole 
three, covering the mouth closely with 
heavy fence rails. In this new species 
of “Black Hole,” they remained in per- 
fect safety till the Court ordered them 
out for trial, when an Indian ladder, *. 
e. a pole full of stubby limbs, which 
have teen cut off about a foot from the 
trunk— was let down into the well, by 
which the prisoners easily climbed to 
the surface, sad and sober. This was 
the first punishment by imprisonment 
inflicted in the county of Highland. 

This term of Court was held in the 
bar room of Barrere’s tavern, no better 
accommodation having yet been pro- 
vided by the county. Indeed, New 
Market had been for some time previ- 
ous regarded, by all except the ,more 
obstinate and interested portion of the 
citizens of that place and vicinity, as 
merely the temporary seat of justice. 
With this view of the case, no attempt 
was made to provide more comfortable 
and convenient quarters for the 
sessions of the Court in cold weather 
than were furnished by the little bar 
room peculiar to the small taverns fifty 
years ago. The jurors were quartered , 
for their deliberations, when the 
weather was too inclement to permit 
them to take a position under the shade 
of a spreading tree, in a pole pen eight 
by ten feet, with open cracks and im- 
perfect roof. 

During this term of Court the Clear 
Creek men, having triumphed over the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 

New Market men, were much inclined <ed to suspend business on account of 
to crow over their defeated antagonists the frightful uproar out doors. He or- 
of the past two years. Considerable dered the Sheriff to command the peace 
ill blood had existed for some time on and to arrest the offenders. But the 
both sides, and more than ono severe order was far easier made than execu- 
light had occurred, when the parties ted. Maj. Franklin, the Sheriff, made 
met at Courts and other gatherings, an effort, but found some hundred or 
On this occasion the New Marketers more stout, bloody and infuriated men 
bore the taunts of the Clear Creekers included in the order and no one to as- 
the first dAy, but not with a very good sist; He saw the game had to be play- 
grace, and it was manifest that a storm ed out then and he wisely desisted, 
was brewing? and that the slightest ag- The battle finally was over and neither 
gravation or provocations already ex- party positively claiming the victory, 
isting might oring on a general fight though all more or less wounded, the 
between toe factions. Court concluded, in view of the fact 

On the second and last day of the that there was but one new well in 
term, in the afternoon, shortly after town, and that of limited dimensions, 
Court met, a wrestling match, which to countermand their order and let the 
had been previously made up between whole affair pass as a grand but terrl- 
a New Market man and a Clear Creek ble exhibition of Highland chivalry 
man for the purpose, as it was said, to and courage, equal, as the presiding 
settle the long mooted question as to J udge remarked, to twenty Spanish 
which faction was composed of the bull fights. 

best men. The question was thought It appears that the Commissioners 
important, and its decision, in a con- appointed by the Legislature at the Ses- 
clusive manner, was considered neces- sion of 1805, to establish the permanent 
sary at that time. Wrestling was seat of justice for Highland county, 
adopted for the plain reason that it having performed their required duties, 
would not do to get up a deliberate during the following spring, returned 
fight whilst the Court was in session, their report to the Secretary of State at 
with the terrors of Barrere’s new well Chillicothe, to await the action of the 
staring them full in the face. Sc the next Legislature. During the session of 
two champions, Dana for Clear Creek 1806 action was taken by the Legisla- 
and Gibler for New Market, entered ture on the report, and the proceedings 
the ring formed of their friends, in the of the Comniissioners approved and 
street immediately in front of the bar confirmed, by a special act establishing 
room in which the Court was sitting, permanently the county seat. 

Gibler was the stoutest man, and the The point selected bv the Commis- 
New Market men were sanguine in the sioners after a careful* and thorough 
triumph of their party. After a roost survey of the county, was believed to be 
desperate struggle they fell, but Dana as near the center as practicable, though 
was on top. At this unexpected re- lying somewhat north of the actual cen- 
sult the Clear Creek men shouted like ter, which was then ascertained to be in 
savages and gave the Well known war a large bog near the Rocky Fork, south- 
whoop. When Gibler rose, mortified west of the site selected near two miles, 
and maddened by the crowing of the on land afterward owned by J. M. 
opposite party, he instantly struck Trimble. 

Dana and knocked him down. At A strong inclination was manifested 
this, “Billy” Hill, quick as lightning, by the Commissioners to establish the 
knocked down Gibler. HilL in his county seat at what is now known as 
turn, was instantly knocked down by the Eagle Spring, as being near the cen- 
Bordon, when “Jo.” Swearingen pitfch- ter, and already somewhat improved by 
ed in, and knocked down some five or the residence, clearing and pottery of 
six New Marketers, in such rapid sue- Iliff. But the ground was not thought 
cession that the first had hardly risen to be as well adapted to the purpose as 
when the last fell. The whole crowd the beautiful ridge near a mile north- 
had by this time engaged in a general east, which was at length wisely select- 
tight, and such a scene of knocking ed and reported, 
down was never witnessed in New The site thus chosen for the future 
Market, nor perhaps in Ohio, before or capital of Highland, lay immediately on 
since. Swearingen was remarkablv the trace from New Market to Clear 
stout and very active, and he plied Creek. It was therefore well known to 
himself so dexterously as greatly to most of the citizens of the county, and 
damage the enemy without receiving a regarded by the most tasteful and intel- 
scratch himself. ligent as the true place for the county 

His Honor, Judge Belt, was com pell- town. The ridge was known ft as the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 139 



highest point in the county, and from 
the great number of springs of pure cold 
water which gushed from many parte of 
* ite surface and sides, good water, pure 
air and health, were abundantly prom- 
ised to ite inhabitants for all coming 
time. 

Other points also set up claims, and 
quite a formidable rival was found on 
the north bank of Clear Creek, some 
three miles distant from the chosen site. 
But the Commissioners were good men, 
acting under oath and free from all local 
interest jn the matter. They therefore 
acted independently, and followed the 
dictates of their best judgment. 

Jo Carr was much blamed by the 
New Market people for the removal of 
the seat of justice from that place. He 
was deeply interested in ite permanent 
location there, and was active as 
the influentialadvocate before the Leg- 
islature. So confident was he of New 
Market being within a mile or two at 
the farthest, of the center of the county, 
that he consented to the introduction of 
a resolution in the Legislature to the 
effect that, if on a careful survey by the 
Commissioners, that place should not be 
found within four miles of the center, to 
yield the point and abandon, forever, alt 
claims for that place. Accordingly, the 
resolution was adopted, and thenceforth 
became binding and conclusive as to the 
claims of the people of New Market. 

When the survey was made it was 
found that New Market had lost by 
about half a mile. Provoking as the re- 
sult was, they could do nothing. Their 
own proposition had been accepted, ^s 
made by their lobby member, Carr, and 
hard as"it was, they must bear the rod. 
They did not, however, in their forced 
acquiescence, dismiss from their hearts 
the mortification and bitter feelings en- 
gendered by the result, and many of 
them carried, through half a life-time, 
to their graves, a fixed and irrevocable 
enmity for all prominent actors in the 
opposition party. 

It was stated in the last chapter that 
David Hays was appointed Director lor 
the new county seat by the Court of 
Common Pleas, at the February term of 
1807. From the Journal of the Court it 
appears that a special term was held on 
the 1st day of May, of that year, for the 
purpose of determining upon the duties 
and course of policy to be embodied in 
the instructions of the Court to the 
Director in reference to the seat of 
justice for the county, but the record 
states that the Court were divided in 
opinion and adjourned without doing 
anything. 

In that state pf the Djj-e.ctor 



doubtless proceeded in his duties under 
the statute, on his own responsibility ; 
for it appears that he entered into nego- 
tiations with the owner of the land on 
which the Commissioners located the 
future seat of justice. Having ascer- 
tained that the land could be purchased 
on favorable terms and a good title con- 
veying the fee in the same, be obtained, 
he reported accordingly, to the Court, at 
the July term, 1807. It does not ap- 
pear, from the record of this term, or at 
any subsequent term that year, that the 
Court agreed upon any set of instruc- 
tions for the government of the Director. 
On the 28th of August of that year, 
Hays, the Director, made a survey and 
plat of the town, and on thq 7th of Sep- 
tember following, he received a deed for 
two hundred acres of land from Benja- 
min Ellicott, through his attorney in 
fact, Phineas Hunt, the consideration 
of which was one hundred dollars. 
This two hundred acres of land thus 
deeded to David Hays as Director, was 
the land on which he laid off the town 
which is named Hillsborough. This 
name was given the place, it is said, by 
the Court of the county, because of its 
elevated situation, and as appropriate to 
the name of the county, inis, though 
entirely probable, is not well attested, 
and some of the men of that day claim- 
ed that the town was named for Capt. 
Wm. Hill (Billy Hill, as he was famili- 
arly called). Others assert that Hays 
named the place himself, but the rea- 
son why he adopted the name is not re- 
membered. 

One thing is certain, Mr. Hays deserv- 
ed the honor of naming the town and 
we should like to be able to assert posi- 
tively that he did. All connected with 
his services as Director evidence not 
only a liberal, but an enlightened gen- 
tleman, of excellent taste and a stern 
sense of justice. He was identified with 
the New Market party, and of course 
would, it he had been an ordinary man, 
have shared in their prejudices and hos- 
tility. But the contrary is abundant- 
ly manifest. 

He had the whole control of the 
matter, for the Court, who might, under 
the law, have dictated to him, declined 
all action, leaving everything to him, 
and considering that it was done eighty- 
one years ago, when the elegant and 
reined notions of the present enlighten- 
ed day had not dawned upon the men 
of the rifle and leather breeches, we 
can not refrain from expressing our sur- 
prise and admiration at the resqlt. 

In those days, towns, even cities, 
were not generally either liberally or 
tastefully laid out. Narrow streets and 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



narrower alleys confined the diminu- 
tive lots on Which people were com- 
pelled to fix their abodes or not stay in 
the place. This unfortunately illiberal 
feature is too manifest in most of the 
towns and villages of Ohio which were 
laid out at an early day. 

Hillsboro was, however, fortunately 
almost a solitary exception. The plan 
adopted by the Director, who was him- 
self the surveyor, was worthy of the 
taste and intelligence of the present 
day, and most appropriate to the beauti- 
ful and commanding site of the present 
admirable town. The full merits of the 
plan are now perceptible, and the far 
Teaching understanding of Mr. Hays 
visible to all. 

The two principal streets, Main and 
High, were laid off ninety-nine feet wide, 
and all the others sixty-six. The alleys 
were made sixteen and a half feet. The 
in-lbts were ninety-nine feet front, by 
one hundred and ninety-eight feet back. 

The sale of the lots which the Direc- 
tor was authorized to make, was at 
public auction on the ground, and took 
place about the first of October of that 
year. • We are not able from records or 
the memory of persons then present, to 
fix the precise day of the sale, though 
we are well satisfied from other well 
established facts in connection with it, 
that the sale was within a few days of 
the date above named. 

On the day of the sale a large con- 
course of people was present, chiefly, 
however, from the Northern and East- 
ern portions of the county, the New 
Market men not turning out well. The 
sale took place on Beech street, east of 
the present site of the Clifton House. 
All the land appropriated for the town 
was then a virgin forest of dense growth. 
The timber was oak, hickory, walnut, 
beech, &c., with dogwood, spice, hazel, 
&c., for undergrowth. 

Christian Bloom arid his wife were on 
hands to supply the crowd with ginger 
bread and whisky. They had erected a 
little tept near the stand of the auction- 
eer, where they found ready sale for 
their stock. Constable John Davidson, 
of New Market, was the auctioneer. A 
considerable number of lots were sold 
at prices ranging from twenty to one 
hundred and fifty dollars. The Smith 
corner was purchased by Allen Trimble 
at one hundred and fifty dollars. The 
Johnson corner sold for the same. The 
Fallis corner was reserved. Other lots 
on Main and High streets, extending 
out from the center, varied in price from 
forty to seventy-five dollars, while on 
Beech and Walnut, they sold from 
twenty to twenty-five dollars. Hays 



bid off the Mattill corner, David Reece 
the lot on which the widow of Joseph I. 
Woodrow now resides. Allen Trimble 
bought tho Joshua Woodrow corner. 
The lots were sold on twelve months 
credit. The out-lots sold at about 
twenty to twenty-five dollars, and con- 
tained from three to five acres. Richard 
Evans bought the lot on which Gen. 
Trimble afterward resided, containing 
three acres and some poles, and sold it 
to the General for thirty dollars. Wal- 
nut street was so named by Hays be- 
cause a pretty young walnut tree was 
found in the line of it not far from Mat- 
tiirs corner. Beech street was named 
because a beech grew on it* 

Considerable excitement was visible 
among the crowd during the day, pro- 
voked chiefly by the New Market men. 
Towards evening, however, the effects of 
Bloom’s ginger-bread and whisky be- 
came visible to an extent which threat- 
ened to detain more than one valiant 
New Marketer on the town plat that 
night. 

The crowd assembled on that occasion 
was peculiar. A considerable number 
of Quakers in their broad brims and 
plain coats with tlieir sedate counte- 
nances, gave variety to the various rep- 
resentatives of Pennsylvania, Virginia, 
Kentucky, Maryland and New Jersey. 

Almost immediately after the sale was 
made, preparations were commenced to 
make improvements. John Campton, 
from New Market, had purchased the 
lots known as the Trimble Tanyard . 
He was a tanner to trade and had been 
looking out for a site for a tanyard some 
time before the sale. He had discovered 
the spring which is on that lot and care- 
fully covered it over with brush, so that 
no one might find it and thus be induced 
to bid against him. He put up a little 
shanty at this spring, ana was living in 
it within ten days after the sale. This 
was the first building of any description 
erected on the town plat. The next was 
a small rough log cabin with clapboard 
door and roof, built by Jo. Knox, on the 
ground now occupied by the frame part 
of the Ellicott house. This building was 
completed about the first of November, 
and opened as a tavern, the first in the 
town. By this time much of the timber 
in the streets had been cut down, hewed 
and logged off for building purposes, and 
to some extent the outlines or the two 
main streets w r ere defined by the fallen 
timber. The timber of the streets was 
considered public property and there- 
fore fell first. But the opening in the 
woods, which pointed the course of the 
streets was all, the ground of the streets 
wp literally blocked up w T ith logs aind 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 141 



brush, and to pass on horseback it was 
necessary to leaye the street and take to 
the woods. 

At the annual election for State and 
countv officers, which took place on the 
13th day of October, 1807, Moses Patter- 
son was elected Commissioner in the 
place of Jonathan Boyd, whose term 
of service had expired. The election in 
Liberty township was held at Samuel 
Evans r house on Clearcreek. Augustus 
Richards was elected Sheriff over Wil- 
liam Hill, his only opponent. Hill re- 
ceived the largest hum Der of votes in the 
county, but for some cause not apparent 
on the record, the entire vote of Fairfield 
township this year was rejected, which 
gave the office to Richards. This was 
the only office, however, affected by the 
rejection of the poll books. Daniel Fair- 
ly was elected Coroner. Duncan Mc- 
Arthur was chosen Senator for Ross and 
Highland, and Jeremiah McLean and 
Tohn A. Fulton received the highest 
vote in Highland for Representatives. 
There were a number of candidates for 
this office, most of whom were good 
men. For Governor of the State there 
were four candidates, Nathaniel Massie, 
Samuel Huntington, Thomas Worthing- 
ton, and Return J. Meigs. Gen. Massie 
seems to have been a great favorite in 
Highland at that day. He received all 
the votes cast, except six, Huntington 
got one, Worthington two, and Meigs 
three. The contest was very closo be- 
tween Massie and Meigs. They were 
the most popular men in the State. 
Col. Meigs received a small majority of 
votes, but did not get the office. The 
election was contested by Massie on the 
ground that Meigs was ineligible by the 
Constitution, in consequence of his 
absence from the State for more than 
twelve months at one time, and a suffi- 
cient length qf time not having elapsed 
since his return to restore him fo his 
lost citizenship. The contest was before 
the General Assembly. After hearing 
the testimony and arguments, it was 
decided by that body that Meigs was in- 
eligible, and that Massie having the 
largest number of votes was duly elect- 
ed Governor of the State. But he, how- 
ever, desirous he might be of the honors, 
was too magnanimous to accept it under 
the circumstances, and immediately 
after the decision in his favor resign erL 
The office of Governor thus becanm 
vacant and according to the provision 
of the Constitution in such case, Thomas 
Kirker, of Adams county, being Pru- 
dent of the Senate, became Governor 
the remainder of the year, (1808,) till 
the next annual election in October. 

Jt is proper we think, that one whose 



name has so frequently appeared in 
these pages, and who occupied such a 
prominent position in the early territory 
of Southern Ohio, and so deservedly en- 
joyed the respect and confidence of all 
the first settlers of Highland, should be 
more particularly presented to the 
reader. He never was a citizen of our 
county, it is true, but he resided for 
many years on the immediate border of 
it, and as the leader and master spirit of 
the pioneers and early surveyors, was 
known and loved by our fathers. 

Gen. Nathaniel Massie was born ill 
Goochland county, Virginia on the 28th 
day of December, 1763, and was the eld- 
est son of Major Nathaniel Massie, an 
opulent farmer of that county. At the 
age of seventeen years young Massie 
entered the army of the Revolution and 
served for some time. He returned 
home and studied surveying and in the 
fall of 1783, he in his nineteenth year, 
set out for Kentucky. From this time 
on, dated his career as a pioneer, sur- 
veyor and a daring leader of the Indian 
fighters of Kentucky in the north-west- 
ern territory. His feats of bravery, 
magnanimity and usefulness, have 
been given in outline in connection 
with many of his companions, in the 
earlier pages of this history, and no com- 
ment of ours could in any way enlarge 
his claims to the gratitude of the de- 
scendants of the pioneers and the in- 
habitants of Southern Ohio. He was a 
very superior man and just suited to 
the time, place and circumstances. He 
was the first Major GeneraL of Ohio 
militia and represented Ross and High- 
land in the Legislature whenever he 
chose for many years. Gen. Massie 
continued to reside at his hospitable and 
elegant home at the falls of Paint till 
the day of his death. In the spring of 
1813, although advanced in years, the 
spark of his youthful fire remained un- 
quenched, and hearing that Harrison 
and his brave little army were beseiged 
by the British and Indians at Fort 
Meigs, Massie left his fire-side, 
shouldered his rifle and mounted his 
horse. He rode to almost every house 
on Paint creek, urging upon his fellow- 
citizens every argument that patriotism 
could suggest to take the field.. Num- 
bers joined him. With them he pro- 
ceeded to Chillicothe. There a number 
more joined him. Without time to or- 
ganize, as the extremity was great, the 
party under Massie being mounted, 
moved rapidly to Franklin ton, where 
they were supplied with Government 
arms. The party by this time number- 
ed five hundred, and Massie was elected 
commander by acclamation. They left 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



FrankHnton without delay and dashed 
ahead as fast as their horses could carry 
them to the scene of danger. When 
they had nearly reached Lower San- 
dusky they were met by an express 
from General Harrison, with the news 
that the enemy had raised the seige and 
retreated to Canada. They then return- 
ed to Chillicothe, where "they disban- 
ded and returned to their farms. 
This was Gen. Massie’s last public act. 
In the following fall he was suddenly 
attacked by disease, and on the 3d day 
of November breathed his last, and was 
buried on his farm at the falls of Paint. 
No man had died in the State or Union, 
since Washington, who was as deeply 
and sincerely regretted in Southern 
Ohio as General Massie. 

The fall term of the Highland Com- 
mon Pleas for 1807, was held at the new 
seat of justice, in Jo. Knox’s log cabin 
tavern. The journal reads : “At a Court 
of Common Pleas began and held in the 
town of Hillsborough, this 9th day of 
November, 1807, present, the Hon. 
Richard Evans, John Davidson and 
and Johathan Berryman Esquires, 
Associate Judges, and David Hays 
Clerk.” 

The Sheriff, Augustus Richards, re- 
turned a grand jury from the body of 
the county which we give for the reason 
that it was the first that ever sat in Hills- 
borough. Their names appear in the 
following order on the journal of the 
Court at that term. James Johnson 
Esq., Reason Moberley, David Sullivan, 
Hector Murphy, Enoch B. Smith, Wil- 
liam Peyton, Joseph Hiestand, John 
Roads, Terry Tetriplin, St. Clair Ross, 
Jeremiah Smith, Martin Countryman 
and William Wray, who brought in the 
following indictment: “State of Ohio, 
vs. John Carlisle, for retailing mer- 
chandise contrary to law.” “On motion 
to the Court by Joseph Knox, the Court 
ordered license to issue for the said 
Knox to keep a public house for one 
year in the town of Hillsborough.” The 
Court adjourned till 8 o’clock to-mor- 
rbw. Tuesday, 10th of November 1807. 
The Court met agreeable to adjourn- 
ment and the same Judges as yesterday 
present. “State vs. John Carlisle — in- 
dictment — John Carlisle came into 
Court by Samuel Swearingen his agent, 
and the Court fine the said Carlisle five 
dollars.’* This appears to have been 
the first case disposed of by the Court 
in Hillsborough. Next comes the State 
against James Eakins, for Borne offense 
not named. He was delivered up by 
his sureties and ordered into the custo- 
dy of the Sheriff. Eakins seems to 
have been a very devil to manage 



during his captivity. The hew Sheriff, 
Gus. Richards, was paid $16.50 for feed- 
ing and guarding him, and James Smith 
was paid $2 for guarding him two days 
arid nights; Isaac Huffman, $1.50 for 
same; Jesse Chainy, $1.50 for same; 
John Evans, $1 for same ; David Evans, 
$1 for same. John Davidson, Deputy 
Sheriff and Constable, $4.25 for service 
in the State, prosecuting against Eakins; 
and James B. Finley, David Mills, 
Robert Thomas and Andrew Ellison, $4 
for guarding James Eakins; and it was 
further ordered, that Andrew Ellison 
receive $3.50 for seven days attendance 
as a witness in said suit. This must 
have been a big affair in the new seat of 
justice, opened in the midst of the 
virgin forest, and no doubt produced a 
sensation throughout the entire county. 
James Scott was Prosecutor of the 
public pleas that term, for which he was 
ordered $20. Finally on the second 
day of the term, Eakins wad tried by a 
jury, composed of good and true men of 
the county, to-wit: David Jolly, Geo. 
Richards, John Campton, James Smith, 
James Wilson, Newcom Teril, who 
being elected, tried and sworn, the de- 
fendant was dismissed by default of the 
jury. The journal is quoted literally, 
“The ’Court adjourned until to-morrow 
morning,’’ Wednesday, November 11th, 
1807. The Court met agreeable to ad- 
journment, the same judges as yester- 
day, when the case of Ross against 
Mountain, was continued by consent of 
parties, and the Court adjourned until 
Court in course.” 

The president judge, Hon. Levi Belt, 
does not seem to have been in attend- 
ance this time; there was however quite 
a turn out of people. They all hitched 
their horses in the woods, and dined on 
the bread and meat which they had 
brotight from home in their saddle bags, 
except those who preferred old Mrs. 
Bloom’s ginger bread and whisky. The 
county seat was a wild looking toton at 
that time, of two log cabins not visible 
from each other, and a half completed 
jail, not yet ready to accommodate viola- 
tors of the law, as appears from the fact 
of Eakins having to be guarded. The 
cabin in which the court sat was barely 
large enough for their honors, the few 
members of the bar and the officers of the 
court, jurors, witnesses, parties, &c. 
The spectators had to stand outride and 
listen through the cracks. When they 
grew tired of this, they varied the en- 
tertainment by shooting at a mark, 
wrestling, jumping, or occasionally fight- 
ing at fisticuff. When the jury retired 
to make up their verdict they had to go 
out of doors and sit on a fallen tree. 



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A mSTOUY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHfO. 143 



The Grand Jury were obliged to adopt 
the same mode in their inquiries and as 
the weather was none of the most com- 
fortable at this time, the consequence 
was a short session of the Grand Jury. 
We once heard one of the petit jury of 
this term say that while they were out 
.of doors deliberating on their verdict, 
he saw deer and turkey moving about in 
the woods at no great distance. Knox 
received an order on the county Treas- 
ury for three dollars for the use of his 
tavern for the court. There was no 
Supreme Court this year in Highland. 

On the 7t^i day of December, 1807. the 
board of commissioners ior Highland 
county met in Hillsborough in John 
Camptoh’s .cabin, present George W. 
Barrere and Moses Patterson. The usual 
business of the term being disposed of, 
it was ‘‘ordered that John Countryman, 
Frederick Broucher and Enoch Smith 
be appointed to view a road leading from 
Hillsboro to Countryman’s mill, and also 
from Hillsborp to intersect the road lead- 
ing from New Market to said mill, be- 
tween the fai;ms of Stultz and Murphin, 
and l'eport which is of the most utility, or 
whether either, and Walter Craig is ap- 
pointed supervisor.” This road direct 
from Hillsborough to Countryman’s mill 
is the road known at the present day as 
the old Middletown or Sinking Spring 
road. The other was either not then 
opened* or is now covered by the Furnace 
road. 

At tlm same session of the Commis- 
sioners it was “ordered that Morgan 
Vanmeter, Esq., "George W. Barrere, 
Esq., and Philip Wilkin be appointed to 
view a r6ad from New Market to Morgan 
Vanmeter’s, and David Hays is appoint- 
ed surveyor.” Board adjourned to the 
26th instant. December 26th, 1807, Board 
met pursuant to adjournment, present 
Nathaniel Pope, George W. Barrere and 
Moses Patterson. This session was also 
held at Campton’s and continued two 
days. Nothing* however, of unusual in- 
terest was transacted. Orders for vari- 
ous services were issued, including a 
dozen or so wo,lf scalps, when the Board 
adjourned to the 26th day of January, 
1808. 

During the fall and winter of 1807 
considerable preparation was made for 
building log houses in Hillsboro, though 
none were put up until spring. John 
Shields, the contractor for the court- 
house, came up with his partner, Thomas 
Pie, from Chillicothe and put up some 
sheds, shanties, &c., preparatory to his 
summer work at brick making, but du- 
ring the entire winter the town continued 
to wear the dreary appearance of a new 
clearing in the woods without fences, 



fields or any of the appliances and com- 
forts of civilization. Foot and horse 
paths wound about, among the fallen 
timber and badly picked and piled brush, 
and altogether the site presented a 
most forbidding and unpromising pros- 
pect. The first settlement made in what is 
now Clay township was in the fall of 
1807, by John Florence. He had moved 
out from Kentucky in 1802, to New Mar- 
ket, where he resided three years. He 
moved to some place on Brushcreek, 
thence to Whiteoak in Badgley’s neigh- 
borhood, thence to the place on tne 
west bank of the North fork of Whiteoak 
where the Williamsburgh road crosses it 
and half a mile west of the village of Bu- 
ford. This was the wildest and most un- 
promising region in the county, and the 

S oint chosen by Mr. Florence for his 
ome the most remote from society. .. It 
was in the midst of a wilderness, and in 
some directions from his house there 
were no settlements for twenty miles, 
and none nearer than ten, except James 
Ball, who had made a settlement some 
miles down the stream the year before. 

In the month of November of this 
year (1807) David Hays, Clerk and Re- 
corder of the county and Director of the 
town ot Hillsborough, met an accident 
which caused his death. He was an un- 
married man, from thirty to thirty-three 
years of age, and boarded with G. W. 
Barrere in New Market. On the day of 
the accident he and several of the citi- 
zens of New Market, including G. W. 
Barrere, were at the county seat on bus- 
iness, which they did not get through 
with till near dark. They all started 
home on horseback in company, and in 
the reckless and wild spirit of the day, 
some one of the party bantered for a 
horse race home, which Hays among 
others accepted. They started at a pret- 
ty high speed along the bridle path 
which was used at that day to New Mar- 
ket, and ascending the hill between fif- 
ty and sixty rods from Fred Glascock’s 
door, on the second rise south of the 
pike, Hays and Barrere being foremost 
and close together, the horse which 
Hays rode made an attempt to pass on 
one side of a sapling, and Hays inclined 
to the other, which brought him in con- 
tact with a dry hard limb which stuck 
out of it. It struck him in the eye, en- 
tered the cavity and penetrating the 
brain slightly, broke off, leaving a con- 
siderable portion of it in the wound. 
This of course put an end to the racing. 
Hays was taken to New Market and lay 
some days at Barrere’s, but there being 
no experienced surgeon in reach he deter- 
mined to go to Chilucothe for medical aid, 
He was taken there and the snag extract- 



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144 a rnsTonr op highland covnty , omo. 



ed, but death ensued soon after. Hays 
was a Virginian of fine education and 
good mind, and emigrated early to Chilli- 
cothe. He came to Highland in the spring 
of 1805, and was chosen clerk soon after- 
wards. This accident caused a great sen- 
sation all over the county, for Hays was 
generally known and liked by the people, 
and they deeply regretted his early 
death. The sapling was about four 
inches in diameter, and some one, short- 
ly after, twisted the top into a knot to 
designate it. It stood there for many 
years after the accident. 

In pursuance of an act of the Legisla- 
ture, January 30th, 1807, requiring the 
Clerks of the Common Pleas Court 
throughout the State to notify the town- 
ship Listers within twenty days after the 
annual election for township officers, to 
proceed, while taking a list of taxable 
property, to take in the number of white 
male inhabitants above the age of twen- 
ty-one years, an enumeration of the vo- 
ters of the county of Highland was taken 
in the month of May, 1807. The law re- 
quired this service to be performed 
under oath, and limited the time to 
thirty days, commencing on the first 
Monday of May. 

The Listers elected at the spring elec- 
* tion, 1807, were Elijah Kirkpatrick, for 
New Market township; Mark Donald, for 
Liberty; B. H. Johnson, for Fairfield; 
and John Roads for Brushcreek. 

As this was the first census taken by 
authority of law, in the county of High- 
land, and as it is the best authority as 
to who made up the tide of life here at 
that early day, we think it not out of 
place m these pages. 

The New Market list is entitled, “The 
Enumeration of the free male Inhabi- 
tants above the age of twenty-one 
years.** Then came the names as fol- 
lows: Andrew Badgley, Adam Binge- 
man, John Bingeman, Elias Boatman, 
William Boatman, Jonathan Berriman, 
John Berriman, Eli Berriman, John 
Barr, William Burris, John Barr, junior, 
Peter Barnhart, William Boyd, Thomas 
Boyd, William Boyd, junior, John Bow- 
man, George Bordon, John Bordon, 
Jesse Brain, Edward Brown, Sovereign 
H. Brown, John Birr, Christian Bloom, 
John Barns, Jacob Barns, George W. 
Barrere, Elisha Bratton, Henry Bond, 
Joseph Bratton, Six Barngruver, Allen 
Benjamin, Thomas Colvin, George 
Cailey, William Curry, Isaac Collins, 
John Colvin, Andrew Charles, George 
Charles, Eli Collins, Frederick Caily, 
Jacob Coffman, James Cowan, David 
Chapman, Isaac Chapman, James Col- 
vin, John Camp ton, William Campton, 
John Donohoo, Michael Dugan, Samuel 



Davis, John Davidson, Joseph David- 
son, John Davidson, jr., Adam Ernold, 
John Eakins, Benjamin Eakins, Joseph 
Eakins, Edward Earls, John Emry, 
Andrew Ellison, Jacob Eversol, Robert 
Flemming, Alexander Fullerton, Geo. 
Ffender, James B. Finley, John P. Fin- 
ley, John Flourence, Lewis Gibler, John 
Gibler, John Gossett, Frederick Gibler. 
Julius Gordon, Richard Gordon, Daniel 
Garrison. Jeremiah Grant, Ebenezer 
Hamale, Peter Hoop, Joseph Hough, 
John Hoop, John Harvel, Robert 
Hughston, William Hough, John Hair, 
Samuel Hindman, Walter Hill, David 
Hays, James Hays, Gideon Jackson, 
William Johnson, Enos Johnson, Wil- 
liam Joslin, John Keyt, William S. 
Kenner, Andrew Kessinger, Elijah 
Kirkpatrick, Isaac Leman, Adam 
Launce, John Launce, James Lane, 
John McQuitty, Hector Murphy, Jacob 
Medsker,. James Mountain, James Mc- 
Connel, Samuel McQuitty, Frederick 
Miller, Joseph Meyers, John Malcom, 
John Malcom, jr., James Malcora, Will- 
ford Norrice, John Porter, Moses Patter- 
son, Janass Pettyjohn, Thomas Petty- 
john, Benjamin Purcell, Henry Roush, 
James Reed, St. Clair Ross, James Ross, 
James Rush, Isaiah Roberts, John 
Roush, Oliver Ross, Thomas Robinson, 
Felty Kinard, Andrew Shafer, Adam 
Shafer, Frederick Saum, Peter Snider, 
David Sullivan, Jacob Saum, Daniel 
Smith, Michael Stroup, Philip Wilkin, 
William Wray, John Wardlow, George 
Wolf, Godfrev Wilkin, Thomas Wisbey 
Archabald Walker, Wm. P. Finley. 
The total of these voters is one hundred 
arid forty-three. * 

The enumeration of Liberty town- 
ship is: William Hill, sr., William 

Hill, jr., Adam Tedrow, William Mor- 
rmy, Abner Robinson, Isaac Sharp, 
Robert Sharp, William Sharp, Henry 
Sharp, Alexander Beard, Asa Hunt, 
David Coffin, Ebeneezer John, James 
Underwood, Jonathan Hunt, Gideon 
Stevens, William' Stevens, James Had- 
ley, Christopher Hussey, Joshua Kin- 
worthy, sr., David Kin worthy, William 
Kinworthy, Elisha Kinworthy, Isaac 
Kin worthy, Jesse George, David Kin- 
worthy, jr., Jesse Baldwin, Enos Bald- 
win, tStephanis Hunt, Alexander Un- 
derwood, Stephen Hussey, Solomon 
Templin, David Ross, William Alex- 
ander, William Clevenger, sr., Reuben 
Crab, John Achere, William Clevenger, 
jr., Peter Vanmeter, Joseph Vanmeter, 
Zachariah Walker, Anthony Stroup, 
John Ellis, Benjamin Brooks, sr., Isaac 
Vanmeter, David Pierce, William 
Thompson, Samuel McCulloch, Thomas 
John, Benjamin Chaney, Evan Chaney, 



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A HISTORY Oi HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 145 



Edward Chaney, Thomas Chaney, Fraley, Daniel Fraley, James Carlisle, 
Edward Chaney, jr., John Bryan, Sam- Terry Templin, Robert Templin. fohn 
uel Rees, George Brook, William John- Richards, Augustus Richards, Thomas 
son. Thomas Johnson, Shedrich Staf- Bal y , Mi c ha el Medsker, Jacob Howser, 
ford, Alexander Starr, Joel Matthews, Robert Baty, Lewis Chaney, Stephen 
John Matthews, sr., John Matthews, jr.. Hussy, sr., Joshua Hussy, Edom Rat - 
John Cook, Leven Stafford, Samuel cliff, William Wright, sr., MafFDoBxttt, 
Harvey, Jervis Stafford, James Brooks, William Wright, jr., James Wright. 






K i/i'j i\i 1 1^» rr 



Brooks, George Willson, Heth Hart, and thirty-two. 

Thomas Hart, John Hart, Joel Hart, The enumeration of the township of 
Joseph Moon, Samuel Evans, Esq.. Fairfield is: Job Endsley, John Mc- 
Adam Steel, Joseph Chaney, Basel Dorman, Richard Barrett. John Crew, 
Foster, Hugh Evans, Joseph Knox, Stephen Hill, Benjamin Davis, William 
David Reece, Amos Evans, John Hanson, Byram, Jonas Stafford, John Stafford, 
William Thompson, Enoch B. Smith, James Stafford, Charles Johnson, Na- 
Gabrel Chaney, John Bowman, Robert than Essory, Foster Leverton, Solomon 
Carson, Adam Brouse, Jesse Chaney, Leverton, Henry Worldly, Pleasant 
Reason Moberly, James Fenner, Andrew Johnson, Christopher Johnson, Wil- 
Edgar, Dan Evans, John Troxel, James liam Johnson, Christopher Johnson, sr., 
Walters, Obediah Overman, Gideon William Stafford, Robert Stafford, Aaron 
Small, Joseph Small, Joseph Sparger, Reece, Emond Phillips, Charles Moor- 
Knight Small, Zebulon Overman, Dem- man, Jacob Beals, Henry Thurman, 
sey Overman, Jacob Worley, Jarvis Johathan Barrett, Solomon Wright, 
Hiett, Henry Beeson, John Burris, John Stevens, Phineas Hunt, Richard 
James Dean, James Hoge, Zur Combs, Bloxsom, John Coats, Christian Shocky, 
Joseph Reader, Joseph Bloomer, John Hunt, Joseph Wright, Joshua 
Nehemiah Bloomer, William Perkins, Wright, John Wright, William Haworth, 
John Rockhold, Isaac Troth, Richard Seth Flowers, Charles Nelson. William 
Hulet, William Mason, Henry Alt, Ben- Willis, Joseph Horsman, Daniel Beals, 
jamin Bloomer, William Bloomer, Jacob Beals, John B. Beals, William 
James Witty, Nicholas Robinson, Jesse Lupton, Herman West, Richard Mills, 
Baldwin. Jacob (griffin, James Wiilison, Solomon Lupton, William Pope, Isaac 
Hesekiah Betts, Thomas Ballard, Ben- McPherson, Benjamin Carr, Strangeman 
jamin Beeson, William Ballard, David Stonlv, David Mills, Edward Baiy,Jona- 
Brown.Joshua Pool, Josiah Tomlinson, than Johnson, Ashley Johnson, Ennion 
Moses Tomlinson, Borter Sumner, Jesse Williar T TT ™ ” 



Lucas, Charles Lucas, Nathan Worley, 
Joseph Hiett, Joshua Lucas, John 
Creek, Jacob Creek, George Nichols, 
Dicky Evans, Benjamin Brooks, jr., 
William Lucas, John Hart, Joel Havens, 
Jonathan Boyd, Daniel McKeehan, 
John Burris, jr., John Burris, sr., John 
Jessop, Miles Burris, Bourter Burris, 
Moses Burris, Daniel Burris, Abijah 
Coffin, John Crigger, David Rap, Joseph 
Hart, John Stokesbery, sr., John Stokes- 
bery, jr., Jacob Easter, John Easter, 
Mark Easter, Samuel Evans— Rocky- 
fork, Adam Easter, Joseph Swearingen, 
Samuel Keys, William Keys, William 
Eubanks, Isaac Overman, Samuel Stit, 
Ronyon Huffman, Nathan Mills, John 
Gray, Joseph Creek, James Fenwick, 
Joel Brown, Richard Iliff, Daniel In- 
skeep, Robert Branson, Job Smith, 
James Smith, Mashach Llewellyn, 
Lewis Summers. David Jolly, Hugh Mc- 
Connel, Samuel Gibson, Isaac Shelby, 
David Evans, James Frame, John 
Evans, Ezekiel Kelly, Henry McCauley, 
Mathew Creed, sr., Mathew Creed, jr., 
James Fitzpatrick, Thomas Fitzpatrick, 
Robert Fitzpatrick. Walter Craig, Geo. 
Richards, Jeremiah Smith, Frederick 



Curtis Beals, Huston Brackney, Solo- 
mon Bowers, Jacob Branson, David 
Branson, Thomas Antrim, Benjamin 
Logan, John Jackson, Edward Curts, 
Aden Antrim, Thomas Drayer, James 
Barret, William Kendal, Jonathan 
Williams, Thomas Stitt, John Nelson, 
Thomas Hardwick, Thomas Hardwick, 
sr., James Parmer, Joseph Rooks, 
Samuel Reid, Cyrus Reid, Amos Wilson, 
William Fanen, Nathan Hughs, James 
Mills, Thomas Hinkson, Samuel Hink- 
son, Reuben Neal, John Hethman, 
Samuel Anderson, John Hays, Conrad 
Hays, David Osborne, John Hoblet, 
William Cochran, Malon Haworth, 
Ezekiel Erazer, David Dillon, John 
Haworth, Azel Walker, Timothy Ben- 
nett, William Venard, Jesse Hughs, 
Thomas Spencer, Thomas A. Johnson, 
William Spencer, John McKinsy, Nich- 
olas Walter, James Spence, Michael * 
Teedrough, John Wright, Joseph Rob- 
erts, Samuel Ruble, Amos Hawkins, 
Jesse Green, David Selah, Charles Mc- 
Grew, James Collins, Abraham Cleven- 
ger, Morgan Vanmeter, John Seamore, 
Hugh Gillaspy, John Leonard, Hiram 
Nordike, Joseph McKibben, Isaac HU* 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



ler, John McKibben, sr., John McKib- 
ben, jr., Israel Nordike, Eli Z. Abraham 
Nordike, Charles Harris, Elisha Noble, 
Abraham Vanmeter, Micaiah Nordike, 
Absolem Vanmeter, James Leonard, 
Jacob Bowers, JaCob Ro&ds, Thomas 
Gillapsy, Simon Leaky, Jo. Leaky, John 
Moore, Vitchell Haworth. David Hag- 
gbtt, Stephen Haggotfc, Edward Thorn- 
burgh, Richard F. Bernard, John Thorn- 
burgh, John Conner, Jacob Jackson, 
Joseph Haggott, Samuel JacUson, 
Thomas Muchlon, Andrew Hart, James 
MoVey, William Willlam», : Jeptha John- 
son, James Grtffin, Isaac Williams, Wil- 
liam Campbell, Richard Bloxsom, Gid- 
eon Blossomy Thomas Terry, Uriah 
Paulin, George Matthews, William 
George, John Jonson, John Befals, James 
Barteld, David Anderson, Peleg ltogger, 
William Hiff, Charles Hughey, Peter 
Bigly, John Blair, Philip Adair, John 
Tudor, Thomas . Rogers, Cbrnelius Hill, 
Joseph Hill, sr., Joseph Hill, jr., Alwin 
Hill, Joseph Henderson, Thomas Stoc- 
ton, Jacob Jones, Joseph Jones, Thomas 
McMillen, James Buck. Samuel Hotton, 
John Wright, Jacob Hare, Robert Dun- 
can, John Kilburn, Alexandria Duke, 
James MiUigan, George Milligan, 
Mathew Killgore, John Coffey, James 
Carry; Francis Knott, Samuel Holliday, 
James Cummins, Henry Jones, Jacob 
Mitchel/ Alexandria Morrow, John 
Kengery, sr., Jacob Kengery, John 
Kengeir, jr., John Buck, Samuel Buck, 
James Gunner, Thomas Gilbert, Robert 
Dunn, Joseph Duncan, Robert Harri- 
son, James Harrison, Bamebas Cochron, 
William Person, David Sears, Solomon 
Tracy, William Tracy, Wamel- Tracy, 
Mordecai Ellis, David Dutton. Thomas 
Ellis, Thomas Jones, John Todhunter, 
Richard Todhunter, Isaac Todhunter, 
Jonathan Hand, Joseph Ryan, Thomas 
Ryan, George Depew, Berijarain Ryan 
Seth Smith, Jacob Clearwater, William 
Haselet, Samuel Li ttler, James Fisher, 
sr , Cephas Fisher, Demsy Caps, Elijah 
Harbor, Thomas Fisher, James Fisher, 
jri, David Li ttlter, Abner Garrison, Isaac 
Roe, Philip Stout, Thomas Sutherland, 
Abraham Beals, Jonn Walter, Philip 
Barger, Samuel Butlar, Whit M. Hacock, 
William Ellzey,, Jacob Hiatt, James 
Collin, Christian Barger; John Wright, 
John Sears, John Bocock, Samuel 
Bocock, William Baldwin, Caleb Crew, 
Hosea Wright, Beverly Milnor, Thomas 
M. Sanders, John Walter, jr., Nathaniel 
Pope, Zaphar Johnson, Jesse Johnson, 



Isaiah Foster, Harrison Johnson, David 
Seare. John Wright, John West, Isaac 
Wilson, jr., Isaac Wilson, sr., John Stan- 
ford, John McVay; Jonathan Sanders, 
David Terril, Thomas Beals, James 
Johnson, B. H. Johnson, William 
Moore, Tapley Farmer, Thomas John- 
son, Ashley Johnson, Samuel Johnson, 
Joseph McArthur, Aaron. Hunt, David 
David Mills, Abraham Hays, William 
Hoblet, Alexander Frazer, James Gill- 
espy, Moses Haggot, Charles Blexsoro, 
Jeremiah Harrison— total three hundred 
and three.’ 

k t The voters of BrushcreCk township, 
in May, 1807. were Abraliaih Roads, 
Abraham Boyd,* Abraham Caplinger, 
Anthony Franklin, Aaron Beeson, 
Andrlew McCrarey, Archibald Smith, 
Anthony Caplinger, Bigger Head, Bed- 
jamin Gloves, Benjamin Horfccm, Daniel 
Wier, Denny Jonikin, David Irons, 
Elias Williams, Emanuel Moses, Fred- 
erick Traugher, George Roads,' George 
Sueters, George Oriswall, George Read, 
George Rateeape/ Henry* Countryman, 
John Irven, John Roads, John Rhoad, 
John Westy John Myers* John Joniken, 
John Stults, John Countryman, John 
Miller, John Miller, jr., John Palmbr, 
John Shualts, 1 John Weaver, John Hat- 
ter, John Shirley, John Bradley, John 
Folk, John East/ John Hart, John Ree, 
Jas. Williams, James West, James 
Cumings, Jas. Dutton, James Irons, 
James May, James Kee lough, James 
Washburn, JamesReed, James Wilson, 
Jacob Fisher, Jacob Miller, Jacob 
Hiest&nd, Jacob Roads, Jacob Kinsley, 
Jacob Stults, Jacob Wier, JaeobDanver, 
Joshua Porter, Joshua Banned, Joseph ’ 
Hiestand, Joseph West, John Thurman, 
Tames Wisecob, Lanerd Read, Martin 
Countryman, Martic Shoemaker,, Mich- 
ael Stults* Michael Cowger; Philip 
Rhoad. Peter Stults, Peter bhoomaker, 
Peter Stults jr., Peter Moore, Peter - 
Garmen, Parker Kielaugh, Peter Hatter * 
Robert Creed, Richard Harvey, Robert 
Shields, Samuel Shoomaker, Samuel 
Danner, Samuel Reed, Simon Shoo- 
maker, Thomas Dick, Thomas Mays, 
William- Head, William Mur fin, Wil- 
liam Ridgy, William Caplinger, William 
Painter, William McGlaughlin-M-otal 4 
ninety-eight. 

The total of the enumerated voters of 
Highland, at this date, appears to be 
seven hundred and seventy six, though it is 
quite probable that some of them were 
not found by the listers. 



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CHAPTER XXIX. 



•last sessions of the courts at new market— a description of the 

, MANNER 1^ WIIIOII HOUSES AND. B^JINS WERE BUILT— MEAGER OnU^JH 
AND SCHOOL PRIVILEGES— THE RAVAGES OF SQUIRRELS, WOLVES, FOXES, 
£T.(i.— FURTHER COURT RECORDS AND PROCEEDINGS Of THE COUNTY 

COMMISSIONERS — OPENING OF NEW ROADS— WILLIAM C. SCOTT, AND UlS 

. . ' - 

MIRACULOUS ESCAPE FROM INDIANS^ , . . , 



On the 20th of July, of this year, the which drew custom from ail parts of 
regular Bummer term of * the Court of the country. ' ' 1 ’ , 

Common Fleas for Highland county In the summer or 1807, WiTliitm 
was held as usual at New Market — ' Boatman built a horse mill on his .fhrm 
present the same Judges aS at the Feb- dbout a mile and a half Southwest of 
ruary term* hist* At this term one the town of New Market. : This mill 
State case and two slander suits were was the first of the kind erected in the 
disposed of, two of them by juries; and county. Porter's and Cireed's, named 
after attending to some administration in a former chapter, haviiig been ! built 
business, the Court adjourhed at the the following year, but by nb means 
close of the secondly of the term. * was this the fast horse mill constructed 
This was the last session of the Courts in Highland— though, happily' ilow, the 
of the county at New Market, and with very name—’ “horse mill”— has become 
them departed its glory and its hopes, obsolete. The vast improvements 
Henceforth it was doomed to obscurity which capital and experlenee|combined 
and decay— the hapless victim of its ; have wrought in the milling machinery 
own ambition and self-sufficiency. The of the present day, have driven them 
oldest town in the county— the seat of entirely from the memory of even those 
justice and center of emigration; it had. who, in their boyhood days, used to be 
up to this date, occupied a proud and wholly dependent upon these simple es- 
coinmanding position, and seemed to tablishments for their bread. But to 
be the sociaband political heart of the the “Young America” who are enjoy- 
large and promising county of High- ing the “white bread of life” so hugely, 
land. # in happy oblivion of the toil, privations 

At this time, so great was the im- and suffering of their fathers at a like 
portanceof New Market in the estima- age, the old-fashioned term may, and 
lion of the public, that there were no doubtless will provoke a smile, sugges- 
less than nine public highways opened tive as it may be to their fancies of a 
up to. it— from Cincinnati, Chillicothe, place where horses are ground out. 
West Union, Manchester, Lebanon, That is, however, a mistake, for in- 
Augusta, Mavsville, Mad River, Lytle’s stead of making horses at these mills, 
%Saltworks. In addition to these there they were death to the poor horse, as 
were four other highways leading to it, well as the boy who drove him.' Not- 
by intersecting some of the other roads withstanding, the people' at that day 
within amiileof the place, so that there usually thought it better to grind their 
were really thirteen public roads lead- corn at them than to abandon the use 
isng to and coming together in the town, of bread. At this dhy water mills were 
New Market still continued, how- few and frail, and literally ‘far be- 
ever, to be a place of considerable busi- tween,” and wholly- unable to supply 
ness* The settlement around was the wants of the people, and as steam, 
pretty good and much of the soil had as a motive power, was then unknown, 
been brought into cultivation. Cattle, the horse mill as the only resort was 



sheep, hogs and horses were raised by 
the farmers, and the tannery, hatter 
shop, blacksmith shop, and dry goods 
and grocery stores continued to draw 
trade from the distant settlements, 
which had not yet been thus provided, 
for some time after the removal of the 
county seat. About this time Michael 
8troup< established a carding machine, 
the first in the county, in Mft rket . 

(147) 



called into use. 

During the summer of 1807 the sec- 
ond military company in the cohfaty of 
Highland was formed at New Market. 
This was a rifle company and the mem- 
bers wore white hunting shirts forufii- 
form. Qporge W. Barrere was chosen 
Captain. This company mustered* at 
New Marmot. It was composed of good 
men grid poon became pretty well dis- 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



ciplined. They kept up their military 
spirit until the war of 1818 broke out, 
when they volunteered in a body, and 
entered the service of their country un- 
der Gapt Barrere. 

The same year (1807) the third mili- 
tary company in the county and tne 
first in Fairfield township was formed. 
It was a militia company with uniform 
and Richard F. Bernard was elected 
Captain. This company mustered at 
Charles Clefton’s on the college town- 
ship road a mile west of the present 
town of Leesburg. Jesse Knight was 
Lieutenant of the company. Their 
music on parade was fife and arum, and 
they mustered with their own rifies. 
In 1811 Captain Bernard resigned and 
Thomas M. Johnson was chosen in his 
place. He continued to command the 
company about five years. 

The year 1807 was a hard year on the 
people of Highland, as indeed of the 
larger portion of the people of the State 
who were dependent on the products of 
the soil. Their lot was a hard one, it 
is true, at all times for many, years even 
after this period. They principally 
lived in little uncomfortable log cabins 
and shanties such as would not be used 
at this day by their wealthy descend- 
ants for sheep pens. 

The names of the men of this day 
have been given, and as a part of the 
history, not only of this year, but of 
many years subsequent, it is thought 
proper to adopt the following descrip- 
tion of the men, times, &c., from the 
pen of CoL Keys, who was himself cog- 
nizant of what ne describes. He says: 
“The population that settled Highland 
were a hardy, industrious class of peo- 
ple, a great proportion of whom were 
from the Southern States and had been 
raised to labor and industry. Early 
impressed with the necessity of earning 
their bread with their own hands, they 
were well adapted to the toil and priva- 
tions incident to the new country they 
had chosen for their homes. They 
were generally in the prime of life- 
young couples just entering upon the 

bitioi 



jy relation, and ambitious of 
achieving wealth and position in socie- 
ty. Comparatively few of them were 
old persons, though in some instances 
heads of grown families sold their pos- 
sessions in the old States and purchased 
with the proceeds laiger tracts of land 
In the new settlement of Highland, set- 
tled their children around them, and 
thus in a very few years vastly in- 
creased the wealth and thrifty circum- 
stances of their families. 

At this time our county was almost 
entirely covered ^\t& a dense forest of 



timber of gigantic growth, that just 
such a population as first settled it, and 
made war upon the great oaks, was re- 
quired and necessary to bring it into 
subjection. The days of Indian fight- 
ing were happily just past, and the 
energy and courage of true manhood 
were directed to the next great work of 
civilization — the battle with the stern 
but relenting forests. This fight was 
kept up for many years. The stately 
oak, ash, hickory, sugartree, maple, 
gum and walnut, which had for centu- 
ries exhibited the productive qualities 
of the soil of Highland, were of neces- 
sity regarded as enemies to the ad- 
vancement of man and his plans. Ex- 
termination was therefore the word. 
Next to the Indian, these beautiful 
forests were regarded the worst enemy 
of man. The settlers made common 
cause in these attacks on the forests, 
and the way our noble young men, who 
made and carried on the warfare upon 
them, opening gp and clearing our 
farms, In many instances “smack 
smooth,” as the phrase is, was in truth 
no child’s play. 

Our spring season was always a very 
busy and laborious time of the year. 
Sugar-making was very hard work, 
then clearing up ground for corn, roll- 
ing logs, Ac. It was not uncommon 
for a hand to have to attend twelve or 
fifteen log rollings during a single 
spring, ana try it when you will, it will 
be found laborious work. Added to 
this, were cabin raisings for new 
comers, and house and barn raisings 
for the old settlers. These barns were 
almost universally built of hickory logs 
peeled. They were built double, with 
a thrashing floor in the center, stables 
on each end, and mows over alL These 
barns were covered with clapboards, 
and generally clapboard doors. They 
were, however, a very pretty structure 
but not durable, and it is quite proba- 
ble that there is not a barn of this kind 
in the county at this time. The peel- 
ing of the bark was a substitute for the 
hewed logs which succeeded. The logs 
were selected from the abundance of 
the forest, and were straight and at 
least a foot over, sometimes more, 
Most of the thrifty farmers had these 
barns at that time. The raising of 
these barns was heavy work, and the 
able-bodied men for ten or twelve 
miles round were called out, and they 
never failed to attend. The work con- 
sumed the entire day, often two, and 
generally broke up with a frolic at 
night, at which the younger part of the 
laborers with the girls or the neighbor- 
hood, enjoyed themselves in their own 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 140 



way. 

This continued for a number of 
years. It was a law of the country, es- 
tablished by the pedple, with the aid of 
the Legislature it is true, but neverthe- 
less a law which all acknowledged and 
enforced by stern necessity, that each 
should help the other on all necessary 
occasions, and any one who refused, 
was sure to suffer for want of help. 
The stables were built of small un- 
hewn logs or poles with clapboard roof 
and door— the whole structure the 
work of four or five hands for one day. 
'But the peeled hickory log bams were 
quite a different thing; They were 
counted the heaviest raisings of the 
time, and hands were invited for many 
miles round. Such raisings were not 
unattended with danger, |>articularly 
if the force was light or whisky plenty. 
It was a post of hohor to be one of the 
“corner men” of such a raising, and 
none but the most experienced and ex- 
pert cornermen were permitted to take 
a position on one of these bams. They 
were generally able to get one up to 
the square in a day. After that a few 
hands could easily finish it at their 
leisure. 1 ’ 

Another graphic description of the 
time, we extract from material supplied 
by an early settler. He says: The 
first and early settlers of our 
county were almost entirely de- 
prived of the benefits and blessings 
of gospel preaching. There were no 
churches at that day (1807) except one 
or two small congregations too remote 
from the mass of the inhabitants of the 
county for their attendance, except in 
very fine weather and on extraordinary 
occasions. The consequence was that 
no religious society or religious meet- 
ings were known in many^ettlements 
at all. The people were thus totally 
deprived of the benefits of church or- 
ganizations and regular attendance up- 
on the worship of God. 

There were no school houses with 
very few exceptions and no schools 
taught. The youth of that day re- 
ceived no instruction in reading, writ- 
ing and arithmetic, except that which 
their parents might be able to give 
them in the winter evenings. Such a 
person as a school master was then un- 
known. In this state of case the qn* •«- 
tion naturally arises in the min«< f 
the youth of the present day, “how i<l 
people live then— what was their <vn- 
dition, and what was the exercis* of 
their minds?” The answer to these 
several inquiries is simple to the sur- 
vivors of that day. We lived in little 
oabins in the midst of the dense forest, 



and not unfrequently our bedstead 
~ consisted of a dogwood fork driven in 
the ground, which was the onlyfioor of 
the cabin, a sufficient distance from 
one of the inside corners. A pole stuck 
in the crack of the cabin wall and the 
other end laid on the fork, served to 
support clapboards laid, the one end on 
the pole and the other stuck in the 
same crack between the logs of the 
cabin, constituted, too frequently, both 
bedstead and bedcord. On these struct- 
ures many of us bad tp sleep. The 
ground on which we expected to raise 
our bipad had first to be cleared from 
the dense undergrowth and woods 
which were very much heavier then 
than they now are in the woodlands of 
the county. • On this ground, freshly 
cleared out of the green, not more than 
half a crop could reasonably be expect- 
ed, and in many instances when men 
cleared off from three to five acres and 
put it in corn, by the time it got into 
roasting ears the squirrels, ’possums, 
coons, ground hogs, skunks, wild tur- 
keys, birds and every varmint which 
inhabited the surrounding woods, al- 
most literally devoured it in spite of 
the watchfulness of the needy owner. 
Day and night these depredators were 
*at work, until at gathering time the 
poor farmer, in many instances, could 
scarcely find in his entire field the seed 
he had planted in the spring. These 
causes rendered the crops of corn nec- 
essarily light. Besides this there were 
large accessions to the population, call- 
ed at that day “new comers.” These 
had to be fed, and in many cases free 
of charge; for in those days, hardly 
ever a rich man moved into our county. 
The emigrants were all poor, and many 
very poor— not a dollar left in their 
purses by the time they arrived. It 
will readily be perceived that mere 
subsistence under these circumstances 
was an object of prime consideration.” 
Among the trying troubles of this 
year, as named by Col. Keys, were the 
ravages of squirrels. Pretty early in 
the spring these animals commenced 
coming in and by the first of May the 
whole of Southern Ohio was literally 
inundated by them. They swam the 
Ohio liiver in myriads, and the crop 
just planted was almost entirely taken 
up. Replanting was resorted to of 
course, for corn must be raised, but 
with like results. They have often 
been troublesome, be says, in this coun- 
ty, but I have no recollection of them 
making so general and so destructive 
an attack; perhaps it was partly on ac- 
count of our inability to fight them suc- 
cessfully. One field of five or six 

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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



acres fn my neighborhood, belonging 
to one of the Sharps, was totally de- 
stroyed in the spring, every liill being 
scratched lip; The owner having come 
from the “tobacco side”; of the Blue 
Ridge in Old Kentucky, determined 
that having lost his corn crop he would 
have a held of tobacco. Accordingly, 
his ground being in first rate order, and 
he having a hne bed of tobacco plants, 
from seed brought from the ’•Old Do- 
minion , 1 " went to work rind made it all 
up carefully into, tobacco hills, and set 
it out in full confidence in the entire 
safety of his plants from the attacks of 
the enemy of the* former crop. But the 
army of the hungry and enterprising 
squirrels, evidently believing he had 
concealed a handful! of corn in the 
bottom of the hill under the plant 
which decorated the top, set to in full 
force and in a very brief space of time 
dag every hill in his field down to the 
bottom, not leaving one plant standing, 
so he had neither corn nor tobacco that 
season. After it was all over he good 
humoredly told the writer that he had 
no doubt the squirrels did it through 
mistake, as they never used tobacco. 

At this date says Col. Keys, “wolves, 
foxes, wild cats, pole cats and possums, 
continued plenty in the Fall Creek set- 
tlement, and very troublesome. They 
committed depredations on pigs, poul- 
try, &c. There was a good supply of 
game. Deer Were plenty for some years, 
and wild turkeys without number/’ ' 

We have said that the year 1807 was 
a hard year for the people of Highland, 
apart from the hardships incident to a 
life in a new country. Bread was of 
course the first great necessary, and 
could only be procured by clearing off 
and cultivating the soil. Wheat, barley, 
rye anil oats had not yet become articles 
of common cultivation, the great de- 
pendence being Indian com. ' Some 
farmers, however, had commenced 
growing wheat in the older settlements, 
and by this titne had become somewhat 
dependent on it, in part, for bread. 
But this year the entire crop was sick 
and could* not be eaten by man or beast, 
and as if to enforce the terrors of 
famine in prospective, all the new 
ground oorn that escaped the ravages of 
the squirrels in the spring, and when it 
was in roasting ears, w;i3 literally cook- 
ed by severe frosts early in September. 
I have known says one who witnessed 
it, cases where whole families were 
compelled to subsist entirely on pota- 
toes, cabbage, turnips, &c. Added to 
this was the almost disgusting and 
nauseating bread and mush made of 
paeal ground from the fropt-btyten corn, 



as black as a hat. These facts will, it 
is hoped, not only give 4be young people 
of the county an idea of the hardships 
and privations of their worthy and 
persevering fathers and mothers, but 
perpetuate for the information of other 
generations the times and people of 
the early days of Highland. Many 
other incidents might be given up to 
this period, but as the subject will still 
bear abundant fruit as we progress 
with the annals of our county, we leave 
it for the present 

The sweeping depredations of the 
squirrels that year enforced upon the 
Legislature the necessity of some action 
on their part to prevent their ravages 
in future. Accordingly, among their 
first acts at their session which com- 
menced the first Monday of December, 
1807, was a law of seven long sections 
entitled “an act to encourage the kill- 
ing of squirrels/’ This -act not only 
encouraged the killing of squirrels, 
but made it a positive obligation on all 
persons within the State subject to the 
payment of county tax; to furnish in 
addition thereto a certain number of 
squirrel scalps to be determined by the 
Township Trustees. This was impera- 
tive, and it was made the duty of the 
lister to notify each person of the num- 
ber of scalps he was required to furnish, 
and if any one refused or failed to fur- 
nish the speciiied quantity, he was sub- 
ject to the same penalties and forfeit- 
ures as delinquent tax-payers, and any 
person producing a greater number than 
was demanded, was to receive two cents 
per scalp out of the Treasury of the 
county; This law, however necessary 
it may have appeared to the Legislature 
at the time of its passage, was rendered 
inoperative almost immediately after- 
wards by the interposition of a higher 
power, for the severe winter of 1807-8 
almost totally annihilated the squirrel 
race. It was therefore impossible for 
tax-payers to get scalps- they were far 
scarcer in the spring and following 
summer and fall than money, and thut 
was, or rather hud been, considered 
among the scarcest of all earthly things. 
The Trustees however madethe assess- 
ment, but the law was not enforced, 
and finally in the winter of 1800 was re- 
pealed. 

The Board of Commissioners for 
Highland county— G* W. Barrere, Na- 
thaniel Pope and Jonathan I>oycL--met 
at New Market on the 5th day of Janu- 
ary, 1807. At this session considerable 
business was disposed of, among which 
it was ordered that Elijah Kirkpatrick 
receive eleven dollars and thirty-three 
pepts for collecting' the State and coun- 



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A WSTOitr OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 15k 

ty levies for the preceding year in the the -year it was opened. Another road, 
township of New Market; that Joseph, was ordered to be viewed by. Joseph 
Swearingen receive twenty dollars and Swearingen, Daniel Beals and William . 
forty-nine cents for collecting the Dope, and surveyed by James Johnson, 
State and County levies for the town- in a northerly course from the newly 
ship of Liberty; that William Pope re-* located seat of justice, passing the 
ceive twenty-five dollars for. collecting houses of .William Hill and James 
the State and county levies for the pre- Johnson to intersect a road leading 
ceding yearin the townshipof Fairiield, from Urbana to the Highland .county 
and that Benjamin Groves receive line. This road, which is mow known 
seven' dollars and three quarters for col- as the old Urbana -road, was reported 
lectlng the State and county levies in upon favorably by the viewers and ; 
the township of Brushcreek. Anthony opened. ** 

Franklin, Sheriff, was ordered six dofr It appears that at the next session of 
lars for guarding two prisoners to New the Board of Commissioners on thehrst 
Market. Who they were, what their o£- day ot May following, the same viewer^ i 
fense or what punishment was award- were ordered to search out another . 
ed them the records of Court and Com- route for a roadto Greenfield, the near- 
missioners arealike silent. It is not eat and best way, and make report the 
improbable that they were the same in- first day of June following, whether the 
dividuals who were so unceremonious- new route, or 'the one already reported, 
lydodged in Barrere’s new well. was likely in their judgment to be. the . 

On the 25th of February following, most beneficial to the public. This 
the Board again met. This was a short survey is the road now known as the* 
session and but little business Of any Greenfield road passing by Nelson’s, 
kind transacted. Jonathan -Boyd was For some months prior to the June 
ordered to be paid ten dollars for mak- term of the Commissioners, 1807, quite 
iiigout a Duplicate of the State tax a. war had been- waged on the wolf 
of the county 'for the Auditor family among the woods of Highland, 
of State, and thirty dollars for acting as Up ter that session of. the Board, fifty* 
Secretary to the Board and for Station- two dollars and . fifty cents had been 
ery. paid by their order, by the County 

The Board held another session on Treasurer, for wolf scalps, pne hunt- 
the 2d of March, which continued two er, Edward Curtis, having received 
days, during which considerable busi- fifteen dollars, and another, Ashley 
ness was disposed .of. At that session,- Johnson, ‘ten. 

although the town.of Hillsboro had not ■ At this time the Commissioners re- 
then been .laid out, nor any certainty as duced . the (price of wolftand panther 
to whether the huid designated by the scalps to oiie dollar arid&flty cents for 
State Commissioners for theseat of jus- old ones, and seventy-five cents for 
tice of the eounty could even’ ba pur- cubs. * • 

chased, steps were taken by the Board At the. June term of the Board of 
for the location of' public highways Commissioners this year, the road form- 
from the future comity seat in different erly known as the Stroup road— now 
directions. William* Hill, William vacated by the pike H west— was estabt . 
Head and Samuel Evans were ordered lished, starting from the new county . 
to view a route for a. road from the seat, and intersecting the Anderson 
point now. known as Hillsboro to the State Bead at Joseph Vanmeter’s, 
mouth of the Rocky Fork, and Allen Orders were made at this term to pay 
Trimble was ordered to survey the Mark Donald seventeen dollars, for 
same. The openingof this road placed listing Liberty township this year; 
the new county seat indirect communh eighteen dollars and fifty cents to; Bhn- 
cation with Chillicothe by intersecting jamin H. Johnson, for listing Fairfield; 
at its eastern end the road leading from eleven dollars to Elijah. Kirkpatrick for 
New Market to that place. The view- listing New Market township, and* 
ers reported favorably, and thfe road seven dollars to John Roads for listing 
was accordingly opened on the route Brusbcreek township.- “Ordered, that 
no w occupied by the pike. any person obtaining a license, or a 

At theisame session a road leading to permit within the county of Highland . 
Greenfield by Samuel Evans’, Joseph to keep public bouse f Sr one year. shall 
Swearingen’s, Phineas Hunt’s and pay the sum of nine doRitfs and fifty* 
Uriah Paulin’s was viewed by E-van cents per year.” “Ordered, that county 
Evans, William -Williams and John tax be received as follows, viz; every 
Mathews* sr., and survej'edby Thomas horse, mate, mule, or .ass, be 4ax»d at 
Sanders. The viewers also reported thirty cents. per head, and all meat cat> 
favorably on this, and in the couyse of ties at ten cents per head, and every stud v 



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152 A BISTORY Of BtOBLAtm COVNTY, OHIO. 

horse at the rate he stands at the sear Treasury for one hundred and one dot- 
son.” ‘‘Ordered, that David Hays re- lars and thirty-three cents in part of 
. ceive an order on the Treasury for his payment on his contract for buiid- 
tweoty-six dollars and eighty-seven ing the Court House, 
cents for stationery, and forty-two dol- At this session it was ordered that 
lars and forty cents, his yearly salary.” Jonathan Boyd, Clerk of the Commia- 
At this session of the Commissioners sioners, be paid “forty dollars for mak- 
Benjamin H. Johnson was appointed ing out eight Duplicates of the Revenue 
Collector for Fairfield township; Joseph of Highland county.” 

Knox for Liberty; Elijah Kirkpatrick It was ordered at this meeting of the 
for New Market, and John lioads for Commissioners that “the different Su- 
tbe township of Brusbcreek. pervisors receive their orders for the 

“Ordered, that John Richards receive different roads leading to and from 
an order on the Treasury for forty-six Hillsboro.” It is not stated, but We 
dollars and seventy-eight cents, for act- suppose that these roads had to be out 
lag as Treasurer one year last past at out. and made passable by the lawful 
four per cent.” road workers under the direction of the 

The Board of Commissioners ad- Supervisors through whose districts 
journOd from the Oth to the 20th of they passed. 

June. Met pursuant to adjournment G. W. Barrere was allowed twelve 
“Ordered, that the public buildings be dollars by the Commissioners for the 
advertised this 20th of June, to be let use of his bar room for the court seven 
on the 27th of July next, at Hillsboro, days. 

Board adjourned to the 27th of July At this session of the Commissioners, 
next Board met pursuant to adjourn- September, 1807, it was ordered that 
ment “Ordered, that the jail of the Atnariah Gossett receive three dollars 
county be sold tothe lowest bidder, the for killing two old wolves, 
sale to be at half after two o’clock. The Commissioners met again and 
Sold at two hundred dollars to Samuel for the last time in New Market on the 
Williamson.” “Ordered, that the Court 8th day of October of this year, and af- 
House of this county, at Hillsborough, ter attending to some road business and 
be sold to the lowest bidder, which was paying James McConnel four dollars 
done, and sold to John Shields, of Chii- for wolf scalps, adjourned on the even- 
licothe, at wee thousand six hundred ing of that day. 
and fifty dollars.” Cutting out the roads of this county 

The Commissioners then received the was a heavy service, but cheerfully 
bonds of the township Collectors, also performed by the hardy and industri- 
the bond of Williamson for building ous citizens. The county roads were, 
the jail and the bond of Shields, $7,- as stated above, all cut out and made 
800, for building Court House, agree- ready for wagons, by the inhabitants at 
able to the directions and plans gives the road districts through which they 
by the Commissioners on the day of passed. These districts, owing to the 
sale. thinly settled condition of the country, 

Constable John Davidson was the frequently extended in length and 
crier of the sale of, the public buildings breadth from ten to twenty miles, and 
on the 27th of July, the day of sale, for the men engaged, under the direction 
which service the Commissioners or- of the Supervisor, had to take several 
dered that he receive five dollars. days provisions with them and camp 
Jacob Fisher was house appraiser out of nights. A favorable season of 
this year for Brushcreek township, for the year was generally chosen- spring, 
which service the Commissioners or- after corn planting, or in the early 
dered that he be paid one dollar. The autumn— when the settlers had most 
same compensation was awarded to leisure and the weather was most suit- 
job Smith for the same service in Lib- able for out door service. In thisman- 
erty township that year. ner all the roads leading from HiBs- 

To give an idea of the cost of locat- borough were opened, except the State 
ing roads at the time of which we roads. They w£re paid for by the State 
write, the mere expense of viewing and usually let out on private contract 
and surveying the road from the new by the State Commissioner of roads for 
seat of justice to the mouth of Rocky the particular district through which 
Fork, was thirty-eight dollars, and that it was considered necessary to locate 
to the Green county line forty-seven them. 

dollars and a half. Gen; Nathaniel Beasly was one of 

At the September term of the Board this class of Commissioners, and during 
of Commissioners it was ordered that the spring and summer of 1807,survey- 
John Shields receive an order on the ed a ^tate road from West Unkm to 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY OHIO . 163 



Xenia, which passed through Hills- 
borough. He had this road ready for 
letting by the first of August, and was 
authorized to let it to individuals in 
such number of miles and on such 
terms as to his judgment seemed most 
advantageous. The superintendence 
of the work was also entrusted to him 
by the State. He viewed the work as 
it progressed and on the completion of 
a section, received or rejected it. 
When the work was satisfactorily 
done, he drew an order upon the State 
Treasury for the consideration money 
which was paid at Chillicothe. 

The first State road which was located 
through Hillsborough, was that known 
at the present day as the “Old West 
Union road,” leading from Xenia to 
West Union, which was opened up for 
the passage of wagons by the dose of 
1807. We regret our inability to give 
the names of all the contractors of this 
work. William C. Scott and Samuel 
Williamson contracted with Beasly to 
cut twelve miles of this road and make 
it so a wagon could pass, cutting all 
timber under two feet in diameter, at 
ten dollars per mile. Their contract 
was divided into two sections of six 
miles each. The first of these sections 
they cut together. It terminated 
where the village of JFairfax now 
stands. At the close of this section, 
about noon, they sat down on a log to 
eat their dinner. While eating, a three 
prong buck stepped very leisurely out 
into the road they haa just finished, 
within thirty or forty steps of where 
they were eating their johnnycake and 
venison, and stood looking at the work. 
He not being in any way authorized 
by the State to view the road, and look- 
ing sleek and fat, Scott raised his rifle, 
which happened to be close by him and 
shot him dead in his tracks. 

This part of their work being ended, 
Williamson gave up the remaining sec- 
tion to Scott for the reason that he had 
taken the contract of building the jail 
in Hillsborough and could not give his 
attention to both. 

After the 10th of October, Scott, in 
company with a hand by the name of 
James Montgomery, whom he had 
hired at fifty cents a day, arrived at the 
newly laid out town of Hillsborough, 
then containing only the little cabin of 
John Campton. They went on out to 
the beginning of the section about a 
mile from the town plat. This point, 
was a short distance the other side of 
where Daniel Duckwall afterwards 
lived, at a small branch which crosses 
the road. 

They were able to cut something 



near a quarter of a mile per day and 
were something about three weeks in 
completing the section, which termi- 
nated near the old 'Squire Shockly 
place. It was necessary to move their 
camp as they progressed. They took 
corn meal with them sufficient to last* 
during the time and also side bacon. 
Anything in addition to this they hunt- 
ed for in the woods. They were able, 
without much loss of time, to kill deer * 
sufficient to keep up a pretty constant 
supply of venison. 

On their return to Hillsborough quite 
a change had taken place, for the axe 
had been busy with the stately oaks, 
which covered the ridge when thqy 
passecL Williamson and ,a partner, 
named Cain,, were nearly ready to com- 
mence raising the jail and prevailed 
upon the road cutters to stay and help 
them until they could get it under 
roof. Hands were very, scarce, and 
they feared they should not be able to 
complete it according to contract. 

This jail was built of hewed logs and 
stood on the northeast corner of the 
public square, near where the pump 
now is. The logs were hewn from 
large oak timber, perfectly square, 
perhaps a foot or fourteen inches on 
each side. They were then notched 
down till they touched. This building 
was small and one story high. While 
engaged at this work the hands board- 
ed out at llichard Iliffs at the Eagle 
Spring. 

After the jail was raised and before 
the roof had been put on, the hands 
made a rule that whoever went up on the 
wall should treat to a quart of whisky, 
and to enforce this rule they always 
managed to take the visitors hat in 
advance of the demand. In this way 
they kept up a pretty good supply of 
drink, Allen Trimble, among others, 
submitting to the liquor regulations. 

About the first of ^November the jail 
was inclosed and Scott returned to 
George’s Creek in Adams county. He 
had come there the previous spring 
from Kentucky, and made his home at 
the house of Cornelius Williamson. 
The next spring he came into High- 
land and became a permanent citizen. 

He was born in Westmoreland coun- 
ty, Pa„ in 1784, and at the age of seven 
yearn, witnessed the burning of 
Ilannahstown by the Indians, men- 
tioned in the early part of this history. 
In the spring of 1792, his father and 
family emigrated to Kentucky. They 
came down in fiat boats from the falls 
of Kiskiminetas into the Allegheny, 
thence into the Ohio. They passed qn 
down, unmolested by the Indians, 



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154 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



whose' yells they often heard on the 
northern bunk. More than once they 
expected an attack. They, however, 
arrived safely at Limestone. 

7 The' fall before his uncle. Gabriel 
•Scott, had gone to Kentucky and made 
some improvement. lie built a station 
bn indiiui Greek in what is now Harri- 
son county, then Bourbon— for defence 
against the Indians. To this station 
.Thomas Scott went, aftfir landing his 
filthily at Limestone, where he left 
them till his return, to get pack horses 
to take them to the station. 

At the age of foui-teen William was 
indentured to the gunsmith business. 
He learned to make guns, axes and all 
kinds of edge tools then in use in the 
west— bells for cows and horses and 
f flax hackles. At the expiration Of his 
term of service in the fall of 1804, he 
was employed by a man named Moore 
! to go to Mad River, near where Urbana 
now stands, to 1 work for the Indians, 
making and repairing their guns, 
knives, tomakawks. &c. Urbana had 
hot then been laid out, and the site of 
‘the town was, in part, the only corn 
“field in 'the neighborhood of any size. 
It was tenanted by a man by the name 
of Pearce, who had a little cabin for a 
dwelling. He reiriaftied there till the 
^following August, when he returned to 
Kentucky. After settling in Highland 
he vyorked at ake making, in connection 
with other smithing. He made up- 
wards ,of a hundred flax hacklers one 
wintter tn Frederick Fraley’s shop and 
was no doubt the first man who made 
hackleS in this county. HO served in 
•the war of 1812, was justice of the 
eacq some fifteen years, and Associate 
udge of the county one term. 

It will be perceived that he was not 
Only a pioneer himself, but that he 
sprang from a race of pioneers. His 
father and mother were among the first 
settlers who crossed the mountains into 
'Western Pennsylvania, and braved the 
dangers and hardships of border life, 
when that entire frontier was a battle 
field. His father and uncles on both 
Sides were soldiers in the Revolution, 
asweli as hunters and Indian fighters. 

One maternal uncle, Major Clark, 
fought through the whole of the Seven 
Vears'of the Revolution, and fought his 
last battle at St. Clair’s memorable 
ddfeat, where he commanded the Penn- 
sylvania riflemen. He rendered good 
service in the retreat from that bloody 
field— kept his men together in the rear 
ot the flying army and in the face of the 
infuriated and desperate foe, for some 
distance, until lie was badly wounded 



add his'battalion nearly all slain.- He 
had fallen from his horse and managed 
to secrete himself in a thicket, whilst 
the Indians, red With the blood of his 
brethren, were passing all around him. 
He could distinctly hear not only their 
yells and the reports of their guns but 
the groans of the wounded, Scalped and 
dying. He lay concealed there all day 
in the deep snow, almost frozen. The 
night was dark and he no longer heard 
the Indians. He attempted to move 
and Succeeded in half walking,’ half 
crawling, using his sword as a cane. 
After some time he found from the 
darkness arid thickness of the brushy 
woods, that he was unfable to make any 
headway, and that his inability to see 
the brush and Saplings caused him to 
hurt his wound and gave him great 
pain. Finally, exhausted and almost 
famished, for he had eaten nothing 
since the day previous, he sunk down 
in the snow to await the slow ap- 
proaches of death by famine or from the 
effects of his wound and the intense 
cold. He had lain in this condition but 
a short time, when suddenly a light sur- 
rounded him which enabled him to see 
objects distan tly, and standing before 
him appeared a little man about two 
feet hign dressed in green hunting shirt, 
pants and cap— the uniform of Ms bat- 
talion. The light seemed to emanate 
from this dwarf, who immediately com- 
menced moving in the direction of Fort 
Washington, intimating by signs to the 
Major to follow him, which he did with 
comparatively little difficulty, being 
able by the continued light to see the 
openings in the woods. He continued 
thus till daylight. During thfe night he 
had seen, bv the mysterious light, 
turkeys and "other fowls on 'trees; to- 
wards morning he was enabled to knock 
one of them off with his sword, having 
no fire-arfns, which he ate raw.- He lay 
concealed all day, and after dark to his 
surprise again appeared the little man in 
green and the light of the last night. 
The little man moved bn in the direc- 
tion of the night before. This continued 
for six days and nights till he passed en- 
tirely out of the Indian cquntry. He 
finally reached Ft. Washington and got 
home’ to Pittsburgh, nearly the only one 
of his battalion who ever reached home, 
but died of his wounds and exposure, 
the story was told by him oh his return, 
and he Appeared firmly convinced of 
the truth of all we have" given, wdiich is 
merely an outline of the tradition pre- 
served in the family, not one of whom 
did we ever hear doubt it. 



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CHAPTER XXX. 

INCIDENTS AND) SURROUNDINGS OF AN EARLY SCHOOL-HOUSE— A FAMOUS 
DEER LICK— REV. JAMES QUINN, AN ITINERANT MINISTER— tHE t$OMMIS- 
SIONERS MEET AT THE NEW COUNTY SEAT— HOW JO. HART BRIBED A 



jt’RY WITH ROAST VENISON. 

During the winter of 1807-8 the little 
log cabin school- house on Clear Creek, 
mentioned before, was occupied by a 
mixed school, of which James Daniels, 
a young Virginian, of good family and 
liberal education (then a student of law) 
was the teacher. The house was crowd- 
ed with the youth for some four or live 
miles round, of both sexes and almost 
all ages. The stalwart young men in 
heavy brogans, buckskin breeches, hunt- 
ing-shirt and wool hat, took lessons in 
spelling and reading, while the urchins 
were busy with primer. The latter 
were generally dressed in linsey or tow 
linen pants, supported by deerskin sus- 
penders attached to one large brass 
waist-band button conspicuous at the 
front. No vest or coat was used by them 
in summer. In winter, however, they 
usually enjoyed the addition of linsey 
round-abouts, and the more carefully 
provided for, huntingnahirts of blue Jin- 
sey fringed with red or yellow. The 
girls from eighteen to six or seven ap- 
peared in linsey dresses with no extra 
fixing of stays or hoops to impede their 
locomotion, and in sports at noon, of 
“prisoner’s base,” &c M were fleet of loot 
as the wild doe. Schools were kept up 
regularly every winter in this humble 
building for many years, and more than 
one of the hardy, rough looking boys, 
who attended it at the early day *oi 
which we speak, became distinguished 
in after life. This house and its sur- 
roundings are described by one of the 
boys of fifty years ago, who received the 
rudiments , of education there, as a 
“wild, and in winter, a dreary and 
picturesque scene. The path ways 
through the snow to the various dwell- 
ings of the scholars diverged from the 
classic opening in the woods to en- 
counter bear, deer, panther, or wolf in 
our way homeward. On one occasion a 
bear saluted us> within a few feet of our 
path, as we passed through the woods 
between Joseph Swearingen’s and 
home. The eldest of the party, a girl of 
twelve years of age, covered our retreat. 
But Bruin, it seems, was enjoying a full 
and free repast on Swearingen’s hogs 
and* therefore, was not in a mood to give 
chase. He, however, raised \ip his fore 

(155) 



paws on a log and merely snuffing the 
evening breeze, resumed his (east. We, 
of course, gave the alarm, and John and 
Duke Swearingen, then young ipen, 
with dogs and guns, soon overhauled 
Bruin, and the next day we had a choice 
piece of iiis carcass.” ; ! 

On the farm at present owned by the 
heirs of Marshall Nelson, and near th$ 
dwelling house, was, in early tidies, an 
apparently large excavation in the earth, 
made, it was then believed, by the 
buffalo, deer and elk which had long 
resorted there to lick, and drink the 
water of the spring near by, which is 
strongly impregnated with salt, jfcc. 
This “lick” was iamous among, the 
pioneer hunters and Indians, who used 
to go there for night hunting, the 
game sought were most frequently 
found there at that season find easily 
captured. ^Scaffolds were erected 
aroand it at conyenient distances on the 
overhanging elms, and many a fine 
buck did the early settlers of Clear 
Creek and the Rocky Fork bear away 
from there on their shoulders. The late 
Judge Richard Evans was wont, in. his 
later years, to point out that place as 
the one from which he supplied his 
family for two seasons with venison. It 
was only about a. mile from his cabin, 
and always a sure market in the hunt- 
ing season. 

A German named John Bellzer, a 
blacksmith, lived in the Clear Creek set- 
tlement at this time. He w f as fond of 
hunting, but was too much of a coward 
to go far into the unbroken woods for 
deer. Cary Trimble, then a lad of four- 
teen or fifteen years, desirous of .some 
fun, and knowing Bellzer’s character, 
proposed to him a visit to the lick above 
named. The plan was to go a little be- 
fore dark and take bis stand to wait for 
the deer to come in. Assuring Bellzer 
that tiiere was no danger, he succeeded 
in gaining his assent. The Dutchman 
was ambitious of a reputation as a good 
shot, and extremely anxious to fill a 
deer, which he conceived indispensable 
to the coveted reputation of a hunter. 
He soon reached the ground and ascend- 
ed one of the scaffolds, confidently ex- 
peetillg to have ft ishot in ten minutes, 



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156 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



as Trimble had assured him; so in fear 
and trembling he waited, rifle in hand 
(hearing, in his excited imagination, a 
panther or a bear in every rustle of the 
leaves.). He most earnestly hoped for 
the desired shot beforeit became entirely 
dark, and as the shades of evening, in the 
dense forest, thickened into still, solid 
darkness, and the owls mingled their 
hoarse voices with the more distant 
barking of the fox and wolf, his fear 
overcame his desire of distinction as a 
courageous hunter who had actually 
slain a deer, and he determined to de- 
scend and make for home with all possi- 
ble speed. Just at this critical juncture 
in Bellzer’s ambitious career, young 
Trimble, in company with one Jim 
Fenix, a bold hunter, who was in the 
secret, and who could imitate to perfec- 
tion the scream of the dreaded panther, 
stealthily approached from the rear, ana 
gave a most terrific yell, which brought 
the Dutchman from his perch, some 
twelve or fifteen feet, in double quick 
time. His gun went off during the 
rapid and involuntary descent, which 
he left where it fell, and as soon as he 
could sufficiently collect his scattered 
faculties to get the right direction, he 
set off like a quarter-horse for home, 
tearing through the brush like a mad 
buffalo. He reported the next day 
that a panther of largest size had at- 
tacked him, after receiving his tire, and 
that after a desperate fight with his 
clubbed gun, he had barely escaped 
with his life by running* and as proof 
conclusive of the fight he showed his 
torn clothes and scratched face and 
hands. 

A story is told by one of the Trimbles 
who was a boy at that day on Clear 
Creek, which conveys so forcibly the 
wild and still dangerous character of the 
forests in that region, that it seems prop- 
erty a part of the history of the time. 

“Going,” sayS he, “one cold autumn 
evening in the wagon, from our cabin 
up the creek to Captain Billy Hill’s, for 
our winter supply of pork— uncle Tom 
Trimble, who was a worthy old pioneer 
of Highland, a man of the black race, 
a native of Kentucky, who was liberat- 
ed with a number of other slaves by his 
old master, Capt. James Trimble, and 
followed the fortunes of the family, to 
the wilds of Highland in 1805-^-was 
driving the team of two oxen at the 
wheels* and a steady old horse in the 
lead. Three boys, William, Cary and 
John were in the wagon. Tom rode 
sideways on the saddle horse — imported 
from Kentucky, and of the Patton 
-stock. Whistling and singing along 
the narrow through the woods* 



between Sam and Dan Evans’ cabins, 
ju^t after dark, we were all startled by 
the wild and shrill scream of the pan- 
ther apparently close to u*. Tom did 
not require the second signal, but leap- 
ed into the wagon, and the oxen and 
old horse, instinctively aware of the 
danger, started off in a lope through the 
woods, keeping tho track, however, in 
the dark, with more than human skill, 
and without accident, we soon reached 
Hill’s in safety. Captain Billy Hill, jr., 
and William Trimble immediately col- 
lected all the dogs on the farm, and with 
rifles in hand, set off in pursuit of the 
marauder, but after some hours diligent 
search failed in striking the trail of the 
varmint. Aftor the fright passed off it 
was strongly suspected by all except 
Uncle Tom that it was Bellzer’s panther 
— Jim Fenix, who, returning from Jo 
Knox’s tavern in Hillsborough, where 
ho had been assisting in cutting timber, 
hewing logs and making clapboards for 
the new town, was merely in the inno- 
cent exercise of his wonderful animal 
faculty.” 

The county in the main underwent 
very little change from this date, (1807) 
for four or five years — indeed, until after 
the war of 1812 except in accession^ to 
the population, native, and from almost 
all quarters of the world. Irish emi- 
grants, fresh from the bogs of the 
Emerald Isle, with their national 
brogue, traits and manners* Germans, 
fresh from the romantic banks of the 
Rhine, came seeking a home in the 
bush, bearing with them, as almost a 
part of themselves, the peculiar charac- 
teristics of “Faderland.” Emigrants 
from the sea coast of the East and South 
of the old States, and from the wild and 
hitherto dangerous frontiers of 
Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Caro- 
lina. Added to these many of Ken- 
tucky’s noblest sons and daughters, and 
others who had emigrated thither at an 
early day and now, impelled by the 
restless promptings so characteristic of 
Americans, seized the first opportunity 
to penetrate further into the wilderness, 
to enjoy a more enlarged and perfect 
freedom, with a fair prospect of accumu- 
lating property and taking a position for 
themselves and descendents among the 
best and first of their compeers. 

“I remember,” says an early pioneer* 
“the advent of some of these families. 
Old Mr. Furguson, ‘a neat old Irish 
gentleman,’ dressed in his Sunday suit 
of black velveteen, long hose and knee 
and shoe buckles. He called at our 
cabin to introduce himself as a new 
comer in the settlement, with a large 
family. He was a weaver to, trade, fond 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO • 167 



of talking and could tell much about the 
troubles, civil, religious and political, in 
the old country. Old Samuel Stitt was 
also of Irish paternity and fresh from 
the “sod” himself, with all of an Irish- 
man’s aptitude for blunders and prac- 
tical perversion of common and familiar 
truths. He was a most laughably awk- 
ward farmer, and when plowing his new 
ground among roots, stumps, &c., &c., he 
would put the rope line around his 
neck and thus attempt to guide and 
direct a restive horse. In trimming a 
tree of its branches he would climb up 
and seat himself on the limb whilst he 
cut it off, and when he and the limb fell 
together, appeared amazed at his fall. 
Passing through the cornfield of Judge 
Evans the first fall he came to the 
country, ho found a small yellow pump- 
kin, and. as he told the Judge soon 
afterwards, “I thought it was a melon 
and no harm to pull it, so I just picked 
it up and eat it entirely, and of ail the 
creatures, I was the sickest.” But with 
all his peculiarities he was a worthy, 
industrious and good citizen, and reared 
up an excellent family. His eldest son, 
Samuel Stitt, was a man of fine muscu- 
lar development, and much energy of 
character. During the war of 1812 he 
enlisted in Captain Trimble’s company 
of the 19th regiment., United States 
Army, and distinguished himself in the 
ranks as a brave and gallant soldier. 
He was severely wounded at Lundy’s 
Lane, in which hard fought battle he 
took a soldier’s part. 

During the year 1807 the Rev. James 
Quinn was on the Highland circuit for 
his second year, and as he was the first 
of the itinerant preachers of the county, 
and deservedly venerated by all its peo- 
ple of the present day, any characteris- 
tics and anecdotes will doubtless be 
thankfully received. Rev^ Mr. Quinn 
spent much of the prime of his life in 
Southern Ohio, and from his partiality 
to the people of our county, when he 
felt the winter of his earthly existence 
closing around him, came to reside per- 
manently among its smiling and peace- 
ful hills, the better to enjoy the society 
and hospitality of its inhabitants* He 
was born April 1st, 1775, in Washington 
county, Pennsylvania. His parents 
§ were from Ireland and were among the 
first adventurers who cros r ed the mount- 
ains and formed the settlement at i^d. 
Stone. In this pioneer settlement, he 
learned the characteristics and native 
worth of the noble old pioneers, and 
among them he first learned the great 
truths, to the dissemination of whi' U he 
early dedicated his life. He was admit- 
ted into the traveling connection of the 



M. E. Church by the Baltimore Confer- 
ence May, 1799. He was then a mere 
youth under twenty years of age, and 
was placed on the Greenfield circuit, 
embracing Washington and Fayette 
counties in Pennsylvania. In the year 
1800 he was appointed to the Pittsburg 
circuit. In 1801 Mr. Quinn was ordain- 
ed deacon at the Baltimore Conference 
by Bishop Whatcoat and appointed to' 
the Erie circuit, then for the first time 
supplied. In 1802 be was sent to the 
Winchester circuit, Pennsylvania. The 
following year he was sent by Bishop 
Asbury to the Red Stone circuit, lying 
in the Allegheny Mountains. In 1803 
he was married. At the close of Mr. 
Quinn’s term at Red Stone he was at his 
own request transferred to the Western 
Conference and removed to Fairfield 
county, Ohio. The Western Conference 
was that year held at a church near 
Cynthiana, Kcutucky, in October, at 
whiph McKendree presided. At this 
session James Quinn and John Meek 
were appointed to Hock hocking circuit, 
which then embraced a vast and of 
course almost a wilderness territory, 
covering nearly the whole of Southeast- 
ern Ohio. In 1805 he was returned to 
the same circuit and the following year 
he and Peter Cartwright were placed on 
the, Scioto circuit, which included High- 
land county. In 1820 lie purchased a 
farm of one hundred acres in this coun- 
ty, to which he subsequently moved his 
family and made his permanent home 
The farm lies in the present township of 
Union* The house was the old fashion- 
ed hewed log with stono chimneys and 
he named it Rural Cottage. At this 
quiet retreat he died on the first day of 
December, 1847, aged seventy-two years. 

Mr. Quinn is thus spoken of ,.bv 
one who knew him intimately : “I 
distinctly recollect the advent among 
us of the Rev. James Quinn, so long and 
so favorably known to the people of 
Highland. His youthful and manly 
form, his fine expression and amiable 
face, calm and dignified, yet Hushed with 
zeal in his Master’s cause— a self-sacri- 
ficing and devoted itinerant preacher on 
the first circuit of Highland, gathering 
up and watching over the scattered flock 
ot humble and devoted Christians. Ho 
had fiist preached at old father Fitzpat- 
rick’s and had then come across tho 
woods some six miles to visit our family. 
His manners and exterior gave assur- 
ance of a gentleman, and his first words 
of salutation were a passport to the con- 
fidence, regard and esteem of all who 
made his acquaintance. His visit was a 
most pleasant and agreeable surprise to 
the younger members of * the family, 



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m A BISTOkY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



who felt at once the mesmeric influence 
of his mild, persuasive language and un- 
obtrusive worth. Such was then James 
Quinn, who lived to impress indelibly 
his excellence and his virtues upon the 
hearts of all who lived under his minis- 

try* ,> 

He made an appointment to preach at 
.our. cabin, perhaps on his next circuit, 
notice of which was given out at the 
raisings and huskings throughout the 
settlement. It was quiteanbvelty, and, 
of course, ai stirring event in the neigh- 
borhood and at the time specified he had 
a large and attentive audience. The 
costume of the young gentlemen and 
ladies in attendance at that meeting was 
somewhat different from the prevailing 
fashions of the present era and particu- 
larly well adapted to the manners and 
customs of a pioneer settlement, when 
frugality and economy were virtues of 
necessity and when none indulged in 
the luxuries of foreign merchandise. 

“While Mr. Quinn remained, my 
brother, who had purchased a violin 
and Was taking lessons from uncle Tom, 
who had the characteristic fondness of 
his race for music, frequently accompan- 
ied favorite hymns on the instrument to 
which Mr. Quinn listened with appar- 
ent Satisfaction. On his subsequent 
visit he brought with him a brother in 
the ministry by the name of Ladd, a 
tall, dark haired, sallow complected 
man, who spoke in sadness and whose 
salutations were in deep-drawn sighs 
and constant groans. He was the exact 
antipode of his friend, Mr. Quinn, and 
stood out in bold relief aDd sombre con- 
trast to that mild and' amiable gentle- 
man. It was early evening when they 
arrived and a cordial greeting awaited 
them by the family. Seated before the 
wide and spacious hearth, (for it was 
early winter) Mr. Quinn was polite, so- 
cial and agreeable to all, while his 
sombre ana reverend companion was 
absorbed in deep and profound medita- 
tion, in distant and cold reserve. I re- 
coiled instinctively from his presence, 
and stood near Mr. Quinn, whose hand 
Was immediately laid familiarly on my 
flaxen head. The eyes of the melan- 
choly preacher w’ere rolling around the 
apartment, scrutinizing its arrangements 
and appurtenances. At length withsur 

rise and horror they rested upon the 

ead of the violin, which was projecting 
from the canopv of the bed curtains. 
Striding across the room, his eyes steadi- 
ly fixed on the object, he easily brought 
it down from its perch, and contemplat- 
ing it with a severe, withering frown of 
apparent sorrow and a deep indignant 
groan, walked, with astern step, beck to 



the quiet circle, with the ill fated “harp 
of a thousand strings” (at least sounds) 
in his grasp, and demanded, in deep, 
hoarse, sepulchral tones, whose “devil's 
instrument is this that has a place in 
this house.” The shock to ears polite 
and to a hospitable hearth, was rude 
and unlooked for. The owner* with 
much deference, explained both his 
own interest in it, and the innocent 
uses to which its melodious tones were 
applied, but it required the kind and 
gentle interposition of Mr. Qninn to 
save the unoffending instrument from a 
hasty and ignominious immolation in 
the fire, for the wrath Of brother Ladd 
was great That was the first and last 
visit of Mr.' Ladd to Clear Creek, and I 
never heard of him afterwards.” 

On the 25th of January, 1808, the 
Board of County Commissioners met 

S lant to adjournment at the cabin of 
Campton, in Hillsboro; present, 
Nathaniel Pope; €1. W; Barrere and 
Moses Patterson clerk of the Boards 
Orders were made at this session for the 
payment* of several persons for. killing 
wolves, and one dollar and seventy-tfive 
cents to Constable John Davidson for 
crying the iron work of the jail.- Settle- 
ments were also made with the several 
Township Collectors, and their bonds 
cancelled. Ah order was issued to Na- 
thaniel Pope for thirty-four dollars for 
two loeksfor the jail and carriage on the 
same. John Carlisle was ordered to re- 
ceive four dollars six and a fourth cents 
for nails for the jail. Jqhn Richards was 
ordered ten dollars for bringing the 
money due the county from Chillicothe. 
After two days’ session the Board ad- 
journed to the 18fcb of February, on 
which day the Commissioners again 
met at the same place. They made 
short sessions in those early days at the 
new seat of justice of Highland. In- 
ducements to loiter were not great at 
that time, in the village of two cabins, a 
half finished log jail, woods, fallen trees 
and brush, with tho crookedest kind of 
cow paths for streets and highways. 
The winter was memorable for its sever- 
ity and deep snows, which destroyed 
nearly all the birds and small animals. 
As a consequence, the county seat look- 
ed dreary and desolate in the extreme. 
Few hunters passed through it, and no 
person visited it except on the most 
urgent business. So the winter passed 
in deep silence, for choppers and hewers 
could not work, and during the coldest 
part of the season deer were almost 
daily seen fearlessly passing about 
through the brush on and near what is 
now the public square, then only partly 
denuded of its heavy growth of oaks and 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COTJNTY, OHIO. 159 



beech. Joel Brown killed and hung up 

a large doe during the February of this 

year on a beech tree, which stood near 
whore the northeast corner of the iail 
now stands* Bear's tracks were fre- 
quently fpund that spring, in the snow 
down the hollow below the* depot. All 
the. efforts of man had not, therefore, at 
this date, redeemed the seat of justice of 
our county from ‘its savage state, or to 
any considerable extent, intimidated 
the native, inhabitants, which had so 
long enjoyed the undisturbed and free 
possession of its sylvan groves and gush- 
ing fountains. Their pastures, of pea 
vine and wild rye, mosses, buds, &c., 
were, it is true, somewhat interfered 
with by the axe and the presence of the 
pioneer, but habit and the little disposi- 
tion of the few settlers to molest them, 
during that cold and snowy winter, still 
prompted and encouraged their com- 
paratively quiet grazings over the site 
of the new, town. , 

The Commissioners held another ses- 
sion on the 7th of March at the same 
place. At this session they made orders 
to pay for wolf scalps, also to pay John 
Roads nine dollars lor collecting the tax 
of Brushcreek township, Williamson 
fifty-eight dollars and siacty-tjyo cents in 
part pay for the wprk of the jail, and an- 
other on the next day for one hundred 
and twenty-one dollars and thirty-seven 
cents, for the balance of the w r ork on the 
jail; and that Solomon Lupton receive 
an order for seventy-four dollars and 
ninety-two cents for the iron work of 
the jail, “which weighed five hundred 
and fifty-five pounds.” At this session 
of the Commissioners the boundaries of 
New Market township were altered as 
follows, to-wit : “From the crossing ot 
the Rocky Fork by the Clear Creek 
road, on a direct line to the crossing of 
the Mad River ana Anderson roads, 
thence with said road westerly to the 
county line.” John Shields, contractor 
for the building of the Court House, was 
ordered to receive two hundred and 
eighty dollars in part pay on his con- 
tract. Board adjourned till May 2d. 

The spring term of the Highland 
Common Pleas for the year 1808 com- 
menced on the 7th of March and was 
held again at Knox’s tavern in Hills- 
borough— Belt president judge, Evans, 
Davidson and Berryman associates. The 
first business of the Court, the death of 
their former Clerk, David Hays, being 
announced, was the election of a Clerk 
pro tern, and a Recorder for the county, 
as Hays had filled both offices, and both 
were at that day, by the law of the 
State, required to be filled by appoint- 
ment of the Court of Common Pleas. 



As a matter of convenience the two 
offices generally went together, then, and 
for many years*afterwards,in this county 
particularly. The interest felt in these 
appointments was considerable, and 
tnere were several candidates, among 
whom were Allen Trimble, William 
Keys, Waiter Craig and Constable John 
Davidson. The Associates had much 
difficulty in making a choice. Finally, 
Judge Belt, becoming impatient at the 
delay of the regular business of the 
Court, settled the matter by expressing 
his decided preference for Trimble, who 
was accordingly declared duly eleqted. 
He appeared promptly and took the 
oath of office, and entered upon the dis- 
charge of his duties, as Clerk and Re- 
corder of the county of Hfghlaud. 

The Sheriff, Gus Richkrds, returned a 
Grand Jury for the body of the county, 
who proceeded to a fallen tree, some 
rods from the court room, under the 
care of John Davidson, Constable end 
Deputy Sheriff, where they dispatched 
business in % manner Worthy the imita- 
tion of Grand Jurors of the present day. 
Three presentments were made by them 
and they then adjpurfied in time to go 
to the spring near Campton’s ckbin, 
afterward the Trimble tan yard spring, 
to partake of a roast venison dinner. 
The accommodations of the tavern were 
more than monopolized by the court 
and it was necessary that jurors as well 
as outsiders should look out for their 
“grub” elsewhere, Jo Hart was under 
recognizance for assault and battery and 
appeared as usual in his blood saturated 
clothes, rifle on shoulder and all his 
equipments as a professional hunter. 
In these latter, however, he did not 
differ materially from many others who 
were in attendance upon this court. 
Perhaps one-third carried rifles. Hart 
felt some interest in being on the right 
side of jurors just then and knowing the 
scarcity of provisions went out to hunt 
a deer. He soon found one, which he 
of course killed and brought to Camp- 
ton’s. He killed the doe in the locality 
now known as East Walnut street. As 
soon as he brought the carcass in prepa- 
rations were made to roast it. When 
the venison was ready to eat Hart sent 
the jury word and they happened to be 
in a first rate state of preparation for the 
feast. They were first served, after 
which all present helped themselves* 
There was a strong desire to invite the 
entire court and officers of the law, in- 
cluding Brush, Williams, Scott, etc., 
who then composed the Bar, but it was 
intimated that the invitation would not 
be well received by his Honor, the 
President Judge. The barbecue over, 



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160 A HISTOU Y ok HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 

shooting at a target was in order as well which license was granted to “John 
as drinking whisky out of IlifTs brown Smith, of New Markfet,” to sell naer- 
jugs. There were no fights, however, but chandise, and to Jacob lliestand to 
Hart and several others got better filled keep tavern on the Limestone road 
with new whisky than venison, before near the Sinking Springs. At this 
the party dispersed. All went home term, George Richards was appointed 
who did not live too far of!’. They by the Court, Director of the town of 
found it necessary to go home with some Hillsborough in the place of David 
of the Clear Creek or Rocky Fork peo- Hays, deceased* 

pie for the night. When court adjourn- On the last day of this term, the 
ed in the evening, Judge Belt, Henry Court proceeded to define the limits 
Brush and Williams, the Prosecutor, ac- of the prison bounds, in view of the 
companied Allen Trimble to his cabin law then in force, authorizing impris- 
on Clear Creek, while Judges Davidson onment for debt. They fixed the 
and Berryman went out with their asso- limits as follows, to* wit : to the second 
date, Richard Evans, to his comfortable four rod street North, to the first four 
cabin, rod street East, to the first four rod 

As the party who accompanied Trim- street West, and to the first four rod • 
ble were approaching his cabin, Wil- street South. These streets are North 
1 lams’ horse scared and came very near' street, East street, Walnut street and 
throwing him, at the cutious looking West street, as at present known. The 
hominy pounder mentioned in another Court granted license to Francis Knott, 
chapter. The visitors then stopped to keep tavern in the town of Green- 
to witness the movements of the field, and ordered an additional magis- 
machine, and it was so perfectly trate to be elected in the township»of 
unique in its appearance and motions, Liberty. The Court also examined 
that they all took a hearty laugh over the account of David Hays, as Direc- 
it. The next morning all were back tor of Hillsborough, and agreed to 
at the county seat and ready for bus!- allow for his service? and that of his 
ness by 10 o’clock. hands, one hundred and eighty-one 

The business of this term wfts not dollars and fifty cents. “Court ad- 
hgavy, there being no jury trials. .It journed until Court in course.” 
continued, however, three days, during 



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CHAPTER XXXI. 



TIIE VANMETER FAMILY— INCIDENTS CONNECTED WITH THE SETTLEMENT Of 
DODSON TOWNSHIP— THE FIRST DISTILLERY IN TIIE COUNTY— A BUSHEL 
OF CORN FOR A GALLON OF WHISKY— THE GROWTH OF niLLSBORO— THE 
BOUNDARIES OF PAINT TOWNSHIP— FIRST MARRIAGE IN HILLSBORO- 
MORE SNAKE LITERATURE. 



Joseph Vanmeter moved from Ken- 
tucky and built a cabin about the 
mouth of Dodson creek (named for 
Joshua Dodson, of Virginia, who 
made the first entry of land on its 
banks, as early as 1796 or *97— immedi- 
ately east of the present town of Dod- 
sonville) a branch of the East Fork of 
the Little Miami, and a few rods east 
gf the house in which Michael Stroup 
afterward resided, in the spring of 
1800. The men who helped Vanmeter 
to raise his cabin were invited and came 
from the settlement of Deerfield on the 
Miami. Vanmeter made a clearing ad- 
joining his cabin, which was the first, 
not only on the waters of Dodson, but 
for many miles around. Mr. Vanmeter 
sold fifty acres of his land to his brother 
Peter, for a nominal price, to induce him 
to move out for a neighbor. Peter Van- 
meter came with his family and settled 
near Joseph in the fall of 1805. His son 
Lewis afterward owned the land. An- 
thony Stroup bought the land joining 
Jo Vanmeter on the southeast and 
moved on it in 1806. About this time 
and soon after others came into the 
same vicinity and formed the settlement 
called and ldng known as the Vanmeter 
settlement. Joseph Vanmeter kept en- 
tertainment for travelers, and his house 
was known far and near as the Van- 
meter Stand. 

About this time others of the Van- 
meter family came out from Kentucky 
and located on the west side of the East 
Fork of the Little Miami, north of 
where Lynchburg now stands. These 
first settlers, like others we have before 
spoken of, lived principally on wild 
meat and hominy. Bear, deer, panther, 
wild cat and wolves were in great 
abundance in the surrounding woods, 
also smaller game. Hand mills were 
the principal resort for grinding corn at 
the time To Vanmeter settled on Dodson 
and indeed for some time afterwards, as 
there were no mills for grinding use 
nearer than Deerfield or Scioto. 

The first school house in the Van- 
meter settlement was built of round 
logs and stood on the north side of 

(161) 



Dodspn Creek, on the land afterward 
occupied by S. F. Duvall. William 
Knox taught the first school. The first 
religious meetings were held at Van- 
meters, north of the present town of 
Lynchburg, in a grove. Rev. Mr. 
Hutchens and Rev. George McDaniel of 
the Baptist Church were the occasional 
preachers. Soon afterwards the same 
men held meeting at the house of Jo 
Vanmeter. 

Shortly after the establishment of 
these meetings by the Baptists and the 
commencement of a church organiza- 
tion, Anthony Stroup opened his house 
to the M. E, Church. Rev. Mr, Page 
was the first circuit preacher of that 
church, who preached on Dodson and 
formed a religious society of the Metho- 
dist faith. 

The first death in this neighborhood 
was a daughter of Anthony Stroup, from 
a burn. The first marriage in the set- 
tlement was John Vanmeter, son of 
Peter, to Margaret, daughter of Joseph 
Vanmeter, and the first birth was their 
daughter, 

John Barns settled where the town of 
Fairview now stands in 1806. About 
the same time David Walker, a revolu- 
tionary soldier, settled on Turtle Creek, 
half a mile above the mouth. The 
others settled west of the Vanmeter set- 
tlement on the East Fork of the Little 
Miami, and William Spickard, David 
Hays and William Smith settled near 
where Lynchburg now stands. The 
Hendersons and others settled near 
John Barns. After the organization of 
the county of Highland the various 
neighborhoods had to attend elections, 
musters, &c., at New Market, Where 
they purchased their powder, lead, 
goods, groceries, &c., unless they pre- 
ferred going to some point on the Little 
Miami. Money in those days was out 
of question, and as a substitute they car- 
ried with them the skins of wild ani- 
mals. 

The first distillery established in 
Highland was by Lewis Gibler, near his 
mill on Whiteoak, in 1803. It was a 
little log without windows, so situated 



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162 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



that the water from the spring could 
easily be conducted in wooden spouts 
through all parts of the house. These 
spouts were mostly of straight poplar 
* poles and the channel for the water cut 
m one side with an axe. Gibler used 
but one still, which was of copper, man- 
ufactured at Pittsburg. He of course 
made honest whisky u as he w r as an hon- 
est man, and those were honest days, 
when men had not debased them- 
selves by the worship of the vile dollar. 
Whisky at that day, and, indeed, even 
up to the present enlightened and re- 
fined period in the history of our coun- 
ty, continues to be ldved and sought by 
a large portion of the people of the coun- 
ty. For many years after the date of 
the first still house in Highland, whisky 
was kept in every cabin, without, per- 
haps, a single exception, when it could 
be procured, and the little brown jug 
never failed to be handed out, when vis- 
itors entered the home of the kind- 
hearted and naturally hospitable pio- 
neer. Indeed, so well established was 
this custom, that it was regarded a gross 
insult not to set out the whisky, or ac- 
count for its absence; and equally an 
unkindness not to partake of the home- 
lv but harmless beverage. So, in those 
days — eighty years ago — the hardy, indus- 
trious first settlers of our county all took 
their dram with their friends. It did 
not hurt them, they believed — they 
scarcely ever knew what sickness was 
and never required the aid of a physi- 
cian., Their children were healthy and 
strong, with sound and robust constitu- 
tions. The moderate use of whisky as a 
beverage was not then considered injur- 
ious and the thing itself denounced and 
outlawed and those who used it in 
moderation stigmatized as vagabonds 
and nuisances. The consequence was 
that there was less drunkenness in those 
days, in proportion to the population, 
than now. But comparatively few com- 
mitted excesses, while all indulged in 
daily use of spiritous liquors. The 
next still house established in the coun- 
r ty was by Philip Wilkin, sr., in 1804, at 
his residence in the present township of 
Hamer. Men came many miles to these 
distilleries for whisky, and when they 
had not money to pay for the article, as 
was most generally the fact, they carried 
a sack with one or two bushels of corn 
in it. Some times a bushel of shelled 
corn in one end of the bag and an 
empty jug in the other. The rate of ex- 
change in these commodities was a 
bushel of shelled corn for a gallon of 
whisky. 

A distillery in those days was an ex- 
pensive affair to start, and none but 



men of some considerable ready capital 
could undertake it. The cooper boiler 
and worm had to be brought from up 
the river and could not be obtained 
nearer than Pittsburg or Wheeling, and 
when it is known that the sheet copper 
of which they were manufactured had 
to be transported across the mountains 
from Philadelphia and Baltimore on 
pack-horses, it can readily be perceived 
that the cost was no trifling matter. In 
the course of a few years, however, the 
demand for copper stills so greatly in- 
creased that factories were established 
in Cincinnati, Chillicolhe and Maysville 
and other considerable towns. This not 
only increased the supply, but greatly 
reduced the cost. Still houses now 
sprung up all over the county and con- 
tinued to prosper, for the business was 
respectable as well as profitable, and 
many of the best men in the county en- 
gaged in it. These still houses increas- 
ed until there was not a neighborhood 
that had not from one to three in it. 
They were far more abundant than 
mills as late as 1825. And yet old men, 
who were men in those days, say the 
people were comparatively sober, and 
that there were no deleterious conse- 
quences perceptible from the existence 
of the large number of distilleries and 
the free and unrestrained use of 
whisky. Some would take too much 
and get drunk, but they were not con- 
sidered respectable, and bore a much 
smaller proportion to the mass than do 
the inebriates of the present day to 
those who favor the total abstinence 
from the use of intoxicating drinks. 

As soon as the weather would permit 
in the spring of 1808, the work of build- 
ing up the town of Hillsborough com- 
menced with much spirit and vigor. 
During the bright pleasant days of the 
latter part of March and the first of 
April, the sound of the axe, saw and 
hammer, mingled with the crash of 
falling ' trees, was heard on all sides. 
Men were busy with the timber already 
down in the space designed for the 
streets, hewing, logging off, cutting 
board timber and making boards and 
shingles. Houses were much in de- 
mand and a considerable disposition to 
settle in the town was manifest. 
Those who came from a distance had 
to accommodate themselves in camps 
for the time, till better arrangements 
could be made, but a number of per- 
sons in the vicinity, who had purchas- 
ed lots at the sale, with the intention 
of improving them, soon hurried up 
small buildings. 

Among the first who erected dwell- 
ings in that spring was Allen Trimble. 



v 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY OHIO. 163 



He purchased the out lot on which he 
long resided the previous fall, with a 
view of making a home on it, and he 
built his log house a few rods from the 
corner of High and North streets, 
fronting High street, into which he 
moved in the May of that year. It 
was a pretty comfortable house for the 
time, covered with lap shingles, and 
stood there perhaps twenty-five years. 
Two years before, Mr. Trimble, in view 
of the great want of a blacksmith in 
the neighborhood, had induced John 
Belzer to move out from Kentucky. He 
hired him by the year for fifty pounds 
sterling, the currency then being 
pounds, shillings and pence, built him 
a shop on Clear Creek and set him to 
work. Belzer was the first blacksmith 
in the Clear Creek settlement, as also 
in Hillsborough, for Trimble built a 
shop of split logs— split side in— cover- 
ed with clapboards, ne$r the cor- 
ner of High and North streets, 
early in the spring of 1808. This was 
the only shop of the kind in town for 
some time, and Mr. Trimble frequently 
in throng times assisted Belzer, as 
blower and striker. Belzer was a first 
rate workman on axes and edge tools, 
then so much in demand, and was kept 
constantly employed. Uncle Tom 
Trimble, then a very stout, rugged 
young man of African blood, and who, 
by the way, was the first black man 
who emigrated to and permanently set- 
tled in Highland county, worked in 
this shop as an apprentice, but he did 
not get along very well and Mr. Trimble 
determined to have him learn the trade 
in accordance with the wishes of his 
deceased father, and Tom’s old master, 
Capt. James Trimble, sent him back to 
Kentucky, where in the course of two 
or three years he became, not only a 
good smith but an extra fiddler. Tom 
then returned to Hillsborough and soon 
married and settled down, but he did 
not stick to his trade very long. 

John Shields, an Irishman and a 
Methodist preacher as well as a brick 
mason, and his brother-in-law, Thomas 
Pye, his partner in business, with two 
apprentices, John Harvy— for many 
years afterwards, and to the day of his 
death in 1832, an industrious and useful 
citizen of Hillsborough — and Caleb 
Runnels, came *up from Chillicothe 
early in the spring of this year. John 
Tucker, also a brother-in-law of Shields, 
—a carpenter to trade, pame at the same 
time. Shields had purchased the en- 
tire square north of the public square, 
lying between High and West streets, 
and south of Beech street. He and his 
two brothers-in-Jaw made a settlement 



on the south side of Beech street, on 
the lots immediately east from the cor- 
ner of West and Beedh streets. They 
all had families and each occupied a 
small log hodse on the line of the 
street. The back part of their lots, im- 
mediately below where Bell’s stable 
afterward stood, was cleared off and 
converted into a brick yard, where, 
during the summer, the brick for the 
Court House was made. 

Benjamin Holliday came this spring 
and erected a little house of logs on the 
lot on which Samuel E. Hibben’s resi- 
dence afterward stood. He was a 
wheelwright to trade, but could also 
turn his hand to the business of house 
carpenter and joiner. William Barnett 
came the same spring. David Reece 
also became a resident of the new 
town this spring and assisted in build- 
ing the houses. John Hutsonpiller, a 
Virginian, came to the town this 
spring, also Levi Warner, James Hays 
from Chillicothe, and Charles Lang. 
Hays had purchased the northwest cor- 
ner of High and Walnut streets at the 
sale of lots, and erected, early this 
spring, the two story log house which 
now stands on that corner, which is : 
unquestionably^ the oldest house 
now in the town. Lang built a 
funny looking little frame — the 
first frame house in the place — on 
Beech street, on the south side and on 
the corner of the alley below the gar- 
den of the late Samuel Bell. It was^ 
very small, corner stood on stones, was' 
weather-boarded with clap-boards, and 
covered with lap-shingles. The chim- 
ney was “cat and clay. It was neither 
filled in, plastered nor ceiled. Just the 
sides, ends and roof were all of the 
house. In this, Lang started the first 
tailor shop in the town. During the 
course of the spring and summer 
Shields, who was an energetic and 
pushing fellow, put up a two story log 
house on the southwest corner of 
Beech and High streets on the lot 
afterward owned and occupied by Dr. 
Sams. It has been down many years. 
He also erected a two story log house 
of pretty good size on Beech street, be- 
tween- High and West streets, which 
was opened as a tavern by William 
Barnett, as soon as it was ready, which 
was not till late in the fall. Warner 
occupied the house on the corner of 
High and Beech. Shields Seemed de- 
termined that Beech street should go 
ahead of all the others, and thus far 
he succeeded, for before the next win* 
ter there were no less than six houses 
on it west of High. He donated a part 
of the square to a Methodist Church. 



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164 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



This whs the corner on the alley oppo- 
posite the present jail and part of the 
lot now occupied ^by the residence of 
John A. Trimble, jr. On that ground 
was erected the first Methodist Church 
in Hillsborough, which was the first 
church building of any denomination 
in the place. The church was a very 
neat small frame and was built in 
1810. 

A large two-story hewed-log house 
was put up on the corner opposite the 
present Parker house. This building 
was, however, not completed that fall. 
The corner of High and Main streets 
was purchased at the sale of lots for 
John Carlisle, of Chillicothe, and early 
in the summer of 1808 a large hewed- 
log two-story house was built and com- 
pleted some rods south of the comer. 
In this house Carlisle put a dry goods 
store during the summer, the first in 
the town, and Benjamin H. Johnson 
and Samuel Swearingen, his clerks, 
kept it. During the fall of this year 
Joseph Wright opened a small store 
opposite the public square on High 
street. On the south side of Main 
street, west of High, was built a small 
log house early in the summer and oc- 
cupied by James D. Scott as a kind of 
tavern. This closes up the building 
operations in Hillsborough for the 
year of 1808, with the exception of the 
Court House. 

Ponds and sink holes disfigured at 
that date, to some extent, the surface 
of the ridge on which Hillsborough 
was located. Indeed there were many 
formidable sinks, particularly on the 
outer slopes of the hill. There was a 
large pond of water, standing the 
greater part of the year on and around 
the corner now known as Trimble’s 
corner. This pond was such an ob- 
struction that the Clear Creek road 
from New Market passed to the east 
of it for some time after the period of 
which we speak. The largest pond on 
the town plat was on High street. It 
covered near an acre of grouud and 
was full of water the most of the year. 
There was an abundance of water, 
grass. Hags, Ac., growing in it, and it 
was the favorite home of a v erv large 
community of frogs of all grades and 
tone of voice. During the spring of 
the year, they kept up an almost con- 
tinual concert. Indeed the inhabitants 
of these ponds were the only musicians 
in the seat of justice for many years, 
except perhaps Uncle Tom’s fiddle, 
which, however, entered but slightly 
into competition with the full band, 
thoroughly organized, which piped 
from amid the tall grass of the pond. 



The streets during tliis year were 
literally barricaded with fallen trees, 
logs and brush. From Trimble’s 
blacksmith shop southwest over the 
town plat, the road to New Market was 
so completely closed that a circuitous 
route had to be made. This route pass- 
ed east of the clearings and chopped 
timber and circling round the hill 
struck the road on the southwest. 
From the smith shop branched another 
road to the Fitzpatrick settlement. 
This road passed out southeast of the 
town plat and over the ridge avoiding 
the Rocky Fork hills. The old road 
from New Market to Clear Creek, pass- 
ed down over the hills in nearly a 
straight line a few rods east of where 
the Eli Glascock family lives, and on 
over the hill by the old Chaney place 
to the Rocky Fork at Joel Brown’s, 
whero it crossed the creek. It then 
passed on direct to the Eagle Spring— 
Iliff’s settlement— thence in almost a 
direct line to the branch which crosses 
the south end of West street, which it 
struck opposite where a small cabin 
now stands. It then passed on over 
the hill a little west of where the 
Union school house now stands, and 
passed on through the public square 
near where the present jail stands. 
After it passed over the Academy hill 
north, it forked and one prong led to 
Capt. Billy Hill’s, and the other to the 
Evans settlement lower down the 
creek. The track of this old road is 
yet visible in the wood lands south- 
west of town. At the time of which 
we speak, and indeed until the follow- 
ing summer, these were the only roads 
open through the town. Others it is 
true werocut out to the vicinity of the 
town limits but the obstructions 
caused by the clearings and cutting of 
timber, forced all into the open tracks, 
w’hich were merely wide enough to ad- 
mit a wagon. . 

At the April election of this year, 
Enoch B. iSmith, a carpenter, was elect- 
ed an additional jusfilee of the peace 
for Liberty township. 

On the second day of May of this 
year, the Board of Commissioners met 
at John Campton’s. The first business 
of this session was to fix the specifica- 
tions for the builders of the Court 
House foundation, which they settled 
should be made three feet thick. 
^Ordered that the East part of Liberty 
township and the north east of Brush- 
creek township be struck off to form a 
township of the name of Paint, and 
to be bounded as follows, to- wit: Be- 
ginning at the mouth of Clear Creek 
and running northerly so as to go be- 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

^ween the waters of Clear creek and 1812, the details of which will bo 
the waters running 5nto the Rocky given in subsequent chapters. The 
Fork, Easterly to Anderson’s road at 1101180 1,1 which he taught the school 
Stitt’s held, thence Northerly. so as to above named, stood on the land then 
include Richard Barrett’s, and to the owned by Samuel Gibson on the Mar- 
old township line, thence Easterly, in- ble Furnaco road. All was woods 
eluding Nathan and Henry Worley around this location, and the house 
thence with the dividing ridge to the^* 13 distinguished in nothing from the 
mouth of Fall creek, thence dividing school houses of that day, being built 
Rattlesnake and Faint creeks to the m the same mode and furnished with 
mouth of the Rocky Fork, thence with the absolute necessaries, in the same 
the county line to where it crosses the wa y* There is a most superb spring 
New Market road that leads to near the site of this early school liou-e, 
Brown’s cross roads, thence a straight on the west side of the road,- which was 
line to the mouth of Franklin’s branch the inducement to build the house 
and thence up the Rocky Fork to the there. Stivers taught school at this 
beginning.” These boundaries are at house about a year, during which time 
this day rather obscure, and we regret he married Mary Creed, daughter of 
our inability to throw any further old Matthew. Shortly after his mar- 
light upon ‘the subject. At this same riage Stivers moved to. Adams county, 
session it was further “ordered tiiat During the time this school was kept 
the inhabitants of Faint township by Stivers, most of the older sons and 
meet on the 14th dav of May,(1808)to daughters of Gibson, Kelly, Jolly, 
elect township officers.” Board then Greed, and others, were his pupils, 
adjourned to the first Monday of June. nian y °f them young men and women. 

The Court of Common Fleas held a Few, if any of them aro now living in 
summer term at Knox’s tavern in Hills- Gris region, and those who are, were 
borough, commencing on the 27th day grandfathers and grandmothers long 
of June, present, Beit, Evans, Berry- u £°* 'Many of them have pursued for - 
man and Davidson. At this term Wil- tuno in ^° the far West, and all are far 
liam Barnet was licensed to keep a tav- separated. 

ern in the town of Hillsborough, and It is n«t settled as to whether Richard 
the last will of Hugh Evans admitted Gilt moved his pottery from the Eagle 
to probate. Considerable other busi- spring to Hillsboro in 1808, or the spring 
ness appears from the journal entries following. This much is. however, 
of the term, to have been disposed of known in regard to it, that he erected 
by the Court, but none which would be buildings for his residence and shop, 
likely to interest the reader. There during the summer and fall of this 
was but one jury trial, and tw r o present- year, and that he was the first to estab- 
ments on the criminal side, for minor bsh in the town, a pottery. These 
offences. The court ordered at this buildings, as we stated in a former 
term that the township of Faint be au- chapter, were constructed of small logs 
thorized to elect two justices of the ono story high, and stood to the right 
peace. of the (ill at the west end of Main street, 

The first preaching in Hillsborough about where the railroad terminates, 
was early in the spring of 1808. John At the June session of the county 
{Shields preached regularly every Sab- Commissioners, orders were issued to 
bath during the spring and summer of various persons, for killing wolves, 
that year. His place of preaching was Nineteen dollars were »riso ordered to 
his own cabin principally. Occasion- Joseph {Swearingen for nineteen days* 
ally meeting.was held in the adjoining service as Lister of Liberty township, 
grove. and three dollars to Reason Moberly 

The first w'ell dug in Hillsboro, was for three days’ service as House Ap- 
dug by James Hays, on the lot N. W. praiser, for Liberty township. John 
corner of High and Walnut streets. Roads was ordered seven dollars for 
This well was dug in the summer of seven days’ service as Lister of Brush- 
1808 and is yet used by the owner of the creek township, and Martin {Shoemaker 
lot and considered among the hist 0,10 dollar for one day’s service as 
wells in the place. House Appraiser of Brushcreek town- 

The first school taught, on the Rocky ship. The Commissioners established, 
fork was in 1808. The teacher wa» at this session, the road leading from 
{Samuel King {Stivers— born in West- New Market to Morgan Vanmeter’s ae- 
moreiand, Pennsylvania, 1787 —came to cording to the report of the viewers ap- 
Kentucky 1805 and to Ohio in 180H — pointed the preceeding December, 
was present at the sale of lots in Hills- They also ordered that a road be view- 
boro, and a gallant soldier in tho war ed by Enoch B. Smith, James Hays and 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



Robert Branson, from the south end of 
High street, Hillsboro, to Gibson’s 
mill, and from thence to Countryman’s 
mill. John Shields was appointed the 
surveyor of this road. Elijah Kirkpat- 
rick was ordered at this term, twelve 
dollars for twelve days’ service as Lis- 
ter of New Market township, and Eli 
Berryman one dollar for one day’s ser- 
vice as House appraiser in the same. 
It was also ordered that Evan Evans 
receive an order for twenty-eight dol- 
lars for twenty-eight days’ service as 
Lister of Fairfield township. 

On the 14th of June, 1808, the Com- 
missioners settled with John Richards, 
Treasurer of Highland county, at 
which time he accounted for “two 
thousand and forty-one dollars, ninety- 
eight cents, one mill and two thirds, re- 
ceived in ; and paid out seventeen hun- 
dred and iifty-four dollars and seventy- 
four cents. Ordered that John Rich- 
ards receive seventy dollars and nine- 
teen cents for his per cent on the mon- 
eys paid out, and that there is a bal- 
ance due the county of two hundred 
dollars and five cents.*’ Tho county 
tax was, at this session ordered as fol- 
lows : to- wit “That every horse, mare, 
mule or ass be taxed at twenty-two 
and one half cents per head, that is 
over three years old, and for every 
head of net cattle seven and one half 
cents.’* It was further ordered that 
there be a collector appointed for each 
township, and that wolf and panther 
scalps, that are over six months old, 
shall be one dollar and fifty cents, and 
under that age seventy-five cents each. 
The rate of tavern licenses was also ad- 
justed at this session as follows, to-wit: 
“Every person obtaining a license or 
permit, within the county of Highland, 
on the College Township road, seven 
dollars. At the crossing of the road 
leading from West Union to Urban a 
and the College Township roads, nine 
dollars, in the town of Hillsboro, seven 
dollars, and elsewhere in said county 
five dollars per year. 

Benjamin Brooks, with his family, 
chiefly grown, emigrated from Penn- 
sylvania to the neighborhood of Chilli- 
cothe as early as 1800. They came down 
the Ohio to the mouth of the Scioto, 
which they attempted to ascend in a 
large canoe of their own construction, 
into which all their worldly wealth 
w r as stowed. But some unknown de- 
fect, either in the making or manage- 
ment of the simple craft, caused it sud- 
denly to sink the same day it was 
launched in the stream. With much 
difficulty the family were saved, sev- 
eral of whom were girls, but with the 



total loss of all their property. Noth- 
ing daunted, however, by their misfor- 
tune, but most thankful for their own 
escape, they set out on foot, wet and 
destitute, through the dense forest 
which clothed the banks of the beauti- 
ful Scioto, for Chillicotbe, where they 
arrived in the course of a few days, 
camping out of nights and depending 
on the guns of the young men of the 
party for their supplies of venison, 
which was their sole subsistence dur- 
ing the journey. The family halted at 
mouth of Paint and building a tempo- 
rary half-faced camp, huddled into it, 
making a bed of dried leaves, grass, &c. 
They were healthful, hopeful and in- 
dustrious. Such a family, of course, 
did not greatly suffer. It was late in 
the month of* April when they found 
themselves at home in their camp at 
the mouth of Paint, and all hands went 
to work. There were two or three 
young men, James, Benjamin and 
another, who soon cleared out a field 
for corn, beans and pumpkins, which 
were planted in good season. The 
father and the girls stayed at home to 
“tend the crop** while the young men 
went out to work for the neighbors, at 
chopping, clearing land, «&c. The fam- 
ily of Mr. Brooks only remained at this 
place about a year or two, when they 
moved up to the present county of 
Highland, and on a tributary of Fall 
creek, called Grassy Branch. From 
this time forward the Brookses became 
permanent residents of Highland. The 
girls married and became identified 
with the mothers of the county, and 
the young men took a prominent part 
in the necessary labors and duties of 
the pioneer settlers. These young 
men were thoroughly inured to the 
hardships and toil of life in the woods, 
and not only as laborers, but as hun- 
ters and Indian fighters, were the peers 
of the worthiest men of the times. 
Capt. James Brooks was a remarkably 
bold, stout and energetic man. He 
was for some months, prior to the 
removal of his family to the North 
western territory, one of Gen. Massie’s 
surveying company, as a hunter, in 
which capacity he had few rivals. 

On one occasion, while acting in this 
capacity, he was returning to the 
encampment, on Sunfish. Pretty late in 
the evening he came suddenly upon a 
bear wallow, where more than thirty 
of these singular animals were assem- 
bled. They had apparently been en- 
gaged in the amusement by appoint- 
ment and were gamboling with all the 
grace and etiquette of a country dance. 
Whilst the company sat in a circle, one 



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a in st ok y op highland cotrm. oino. ig? 



or two couple would caper around the 
ring in ground and lot tytumbling- Soon 
the whole ring would pitch in, and after 
a general frolic of rolling over and over 
in a grand muss, would resume their 
former position in the ring, when two 
or more of their number would renew 
the evolutions inside. Brooks, who 
told the story, said it was the most gro- 
tesque and laughable exhibition im- 
aginable. and much as he liked bear 
meat and anxious as he was for a shot, 
for he had had no luck during the hunt, 
he silently left the party and returned 
to the camp for Massie and the com- 
pany to go and witness the bear show. 

On another occasion, he waked one 
morning about day-light, at his encamp- 
ment in the silent woods, under the 
root of a large fallen tree, and the first 
object which presented itself to his 
eyes, was a large panther, crouched, its 
tail in motion, and just in the act of 
springing upon him. He was bold and 
self-possessed for all emergencies 
which came in the way of a woodsman 
and hunter. He had his trusty rifle by 
his side and managed silently and with- 
out changing his recumbent position to 
bring it slowly to his breast, and with 
a steady, and sure aim, gave his enemy, 
a deadly shot just as he was springing 
on him. The panther bounded past him 
ten feet or more and fell dead. 

Capt. Brooks was a man of extraor- 
dinary muscular development, tall, sin- 
ewy and tawny as an Indian— he could 
travel farther on foot, than perhaps 
any man in Ohio. On one dccasion 
upon an alarm of an attack of Indians 
upon Chillicothe. he walked from 
limestone, Ky., where he was at work, 
in one day, from sun rise to sun set — a 
distance of seventy-five miles. The 
easiest part of the journey, he said, was 
over the Brush creek hills, which he 
ascended in a quick step and descended 
in a run. 

He was a fine specimen of the pioneer 
woodsman and hunter of the early days 
of the West, and was always a cham- 
pion at log-rollings, house raisings and 
musters. He could cut the timber and 
split more rails than any man he ever 
encountered. He once walked from 
home, three miles, to his ' brother-in- 
law's, who then lived in the Clear creek 
settlement, and made four hundred 
whiteoak rails, and in the evening 
afterwards, beat several of the most 
active of the young men of the neigh- 
borhood at hop-step-and-jump. On 
another occasion at a chopping frolic 
on Ash liidge, in the present county of 
Brown, he cut the trees down, logged 
them off and split one hundred rails in 



one hour. The timber was beautiful 
blue ash and the rails made on a bet 
which some of his friends had made. 
One who witnessed this extraordinary 
performance said the whole party of 
choppers ceased work as soon as Brooks 
began. All eyes yvere upon him. No 
one spoke above his breath, until the 
rails were finished and counted, within 
the hour. Brooks did not appear to be 
excited during the time, nor did he 
exhibit any unusual hurry, but coolly 
and deliberately did he swing his 
heavy axe, never hitting a lick amiss, 
never making a false motion or in any 
way wasting time or strength. He 
used no iron wedge or maul, nothing 
but a small wooden glut and his axe. 

“I have,” says one who knew Brooks 
well, “hunted with him in later years, 
and made several voyages with him 
upon the Mississippi and always found 
him a warm ana generous friend in 
sickness and in health.” 

It may be a subject of some’ interest 
to the reader, to know that the first 
couple married in the town of Hillsboro 
was Amariah Gossett and Lydia Evans, 
daughter of Evan Evans, a Virginia 
Quaker, who emigrated from Stevens- 
burgh in that State to the North-western 
Territorv and settled in the present town- 
ship of Fairfield, on the banks of Lee’s 
creek, near the Beaver Dam, as it was 
known many years ago, the first white 
settler in that region. The Indians were 
then numerous all around here, and he 
saw a hundred of them to one white 
man. He was a neighbor and friend to 
Wa-will-a-way, named in a former chap- 
ter. Evans was a most worthy man and 
secured the confidence, friendship and 
respect of the natives of the forest. They 
came to him for advice and favors, 
always addressing him as the “goody 
man— the Quaker.” It seems the 
Indians, ever since the days of William 
Penn, have held in high confidence and 
love the peaceful and philanthropic dis- 
ciples of his example and faith. Lydia 
Evans was a verv young girl when her 
father brought Lis family to their wil- 
derness home, and for some years after- 
wards her playmates were young 
savages, as the fastidious white man is 
pleased to term the lord of the sylvan 
groves of other days in our present culti- 
vated and beautiful country. 

This marriage was solemnized by 
Squire Enoch B. Smith, on the after- 
noon of August the 4th, 1808, in the 
little log cabin which then stood on the 
lot on which the Parker House now 
stands. The cabin was then owned and 
occupied as a residence by James D. 
Scott. He was away from home, but 



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1R3 A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY OHIO. 

his wife, who was a very fine woman, sionally got hold of a note on an East- 
taking much interest in the young ern bank, but it was carefully handled 
couple, gave them quite a nice supper, and carried back by the first merchant 
They had, however, no party, and the who went over the mountains for goods, 
whole affair passed off very quietly and These notes were generally large and on 
without attracting any unusual atten- banks either in Pennsylvania, Maryland 
tion. Mr. and Mrs. Gossett, after raising or Virginia. 

a large and worthy family, all of whom The county of Highland was, as we 
are married and gone, settled down in have before stated, much infested with 
their own quiet little home four miles that most venomous and deadly of rep- 
sou: h of Hillsboro, in the full enjoyment tiles, the spotted rattlesnake’ It was 
of robust health. many years after the date of which we 

Alexander Morrow and George Sand- now speak, before they became so far 
erson with his family, emigrated from exterminated as to remove from the 
Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, and minds of the people the dread of an en- 
setded in the town of Greenfield in the counter with them in the woods, 
year 1808. Ann Sanderson, afterward Many dens of snakes \yere known to ex- 
the wife of Thomas Boyd, was then a ist in and around Hillsborough and per- 
little girl. Her sister Jane, afterward sons were often bitten. A place known 
the wife of N. Edwards, was born in as the Bald Knob, to the right of the 
Greenfield the following year. Before road to Marshall and about two miles 
her death Mrs. Boyd, in speaking of from Hillsborough, abounded in rattle- 
the early times (1808) when she first snakes. This seemed to be the head- 
carae to the place a little girl, contrasted quarters, from which most of those that 
the mode of living now with what she infested the surrounding county wqre 
remembered most vividly then. The believed to emanate. It was a place of 
houses in the town as well as the coun- much celebrity and no one ventured to 
try, still continued to be very poor little approach its immediate vicinity if they 
polo cabins, with clapboard roof and could avoid it. 

doors. An apology for fire places, made In the early part of the summer of 
of a few stones and some mud, was visi- this year (1808) David Jolly sent his 
hie on the earth floor underneath a hole two (laughters, then mere children, out 
in the roof for the smoke to pass out. one evening to hunt up the sheep and 
For bedstead, a fork driven in the fetch them in for fear of the wolves, 
ground on which rested small poles. The girls, one of whom was afterward 
The bed-tick filled with dry leaves from Mrs. R. Stuart, of this place, the other, 
the woods. Chairs were made of punch- her eldest sister Elizabeth, went on in ^ 
eons, and tables also, with cross legs in- search of the sheep, and before they 
serted in augur holes. The baby was were aware of their exact whereabouts, 
rocked in a sugar trough. Clothing was they found themselves at the Knob, 
all home-made for the best of all reasons, then, however, not known to them as a 
that money could not be had to pur- snake den. They saw a rattlesnake 
chase anything else. The descendants which took shelter under the rocks of 
of the first settlers who are now in the the Knob. The custom of the people of 
full enjoyment of the fat of the land that day was never to let one of these 
their fathers and mothers cleared and reptiles’ escape. So they settled between 
improved, with all the comforts and themselves, being satisfied that they 
luxuries of city life, would almost feel it could not make the attack successfully, 
an insult to be told of the early struggles, that one should stay and watch, while 
privations and poverty of their parents, the other went home for their father to 
The truth is, there was no market for come and kill the snake. Accordingly 
the scanty products of the soil, which Mrs. Stuart went. Mr. Jolly soon came 
could pay money, except perhaps the and w f ent to work. He found pretty 
skins of wild animals. All the money soon that he was encountering a large 
of that time was the little brought by den of snakes, nineteen of which he 
new coiners, and that, when circulated, succeeded in killing. This place was 
would hardly suffice for the small sum afterwards fenced up tightly early in the 
of county and State tax, required from spring to prevent the snakes from es- 
each householder. caping. when the warm suns of March 

The money of that time was almost induced the inmates to crawl out, sev- 
entirely Spanish silver coin, frequently eral men and boys were in readiness to 
cut into halves, quarters, &c. A bank kill them, and vast numbers w r ere thus 
bill was a thing still more rare than a destroyed. They also harbored in 
round dollar, and gold coin was not rocky springs during the winter* and 
known at all in the back woods of High- were sure to be found in their vicinity 
land. Some of the business men occa- in the spring. This same year upwards 



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A HISTORY OJB HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



oi twenty large rattlesnakes were killed 
on Mrs. Jane Trimble’s farm. A place 
near the late residence of t>r. ft. D. 
Lilley, known as the Sand Ridge, was 
for many years a favorite haunt of the 
rattlesnakes, and very few persons had 
the fortune to pass it without meeting 
one or more. 

One bright Sabbath morning in July, 
1808, says an early settler, Andrew Ed- 
gar started out to look for his horse in 
the extensive range south of his resi- 
dence. He lived on the first farm on 
the Washington road, and in the first 
house, after crossing the Jackson 
Spring branch. Edgar was either in 
his bare feet, which was then quite 
common in the summer season, or had 
on a low pair of moccasins. In those 
days all the horses in the county were 
turned out to graze on the abundant 
peavine, wild rye, &c., which covered 
the open woods, waist high, and of 
course as they found abundance in the 
range there was little or no induce- 
ment for them to return home to go to 
work. The consequence was, they had 
to be hunted whenever they were 
wanted, and the custom of the boy or 
man who undertook this service, which 
was always considered dangerous, was 
to hurry with his utmost speed to the 
part of the range where he expected to 
find the stock, tor the cows also had to 
be brought home to be milked. Every 
owner of stock always, on turning 
them out, put a bell on one or more of 
the horses and cows, otherwise, in the 
thick woods the chances were that he 
would not find them. The stock in 
grazing rarely strayed far and the 
hunter could generally catch the tones 
of the distant bell pretty soon after he 
entered the range. It was, of course, 
essential that he should be able to 
recognize his own bell by the peculiar 
sound, for many others were frequent- 
ly heard in the same range at the same 
time. These bells, strange as it may 
now appear, could be heard pretty dis- 
tinctly from half a mile to a mile dis- 
tant, and an experienced ear in the dis- 
crimination of these sounds, which on 
a summer morning absolutely made 
the woods musical, and formed a beau- 
tiful and prolonged afterpiece to the 
rapturous songs of the birds, which al- 
ways ceased about sunrise, rarely fail- 
ed to recognize his own. The most 
distant tope of his own horse or cow 
bell could be detected by the owner in 
search of his stock, among twenty 
others in the same range. As soon as 
he discovered the direction of the 
sound from the top of the fallen tree 
on which he paused to listen, he would 



leap off and run at full speed towards 
it till he came to another fallen tree on 
to which he would spring.' Then he 
wpuld again stand on the log and list- 
en for his bell. Getting a more dis- 
tinct note from it, he would again 
jump and run through the grass, pea- 
vine, &c. Thus he would continue for 
perhaps a mile, always stopping to rest 
and listen, on every log in his course, 
until he reached his stock. He speedi- 
ly caught and mounted his horse, and 
not till then did he feel safe. The 
reader has doubtless already guessed 
the reason for both the rapid and 
cautious jnanner of the horse and cow 
hunter. It was simply to avoid as for 
as possible an encounter with the rat- 
tlesnakes known to abound in the 
range. 

Edgar had gone on the morning re- 
ferred to about a mile in this way, 
when near the top of the Sand Ridge, 
whither he had been drawn by the 
well known sound of his bell, and 
jumped on a pretty large fallen tree, 
where he stood but a moment to listen 
to the tinkle, which he knew was close 
by. In bis hurry he- had not observed 
a "large yellow-spotted rattlesnake sun- 
ning on the same log. The snake gave 
the usual alarm with his rattle, but 
coiled and struck before Edgar could 
jump from the log. The fangs of the 
snake entered, as it was supposed, the 
large vein of his foot. He was greatly 
alarmed and started immediately for 
home in a full run. The rapidity of 
his movements before he was bitten 
had warmed him much, and his race 
home, which was greatly accelerated 
by his fright, heated his blood to the 
highest point. The poison was thus 
carried with great rapidity to all parts 
of his body. Before he reached his 
own cabin he became almost exhaust- 
ed. He, however, by a great and last 
effort, reached the fence near his door, 
and in a faint and plaintive voice call- 
ed his wife. She heard him and ran 
out, aware that something had hap- 
pened, even before she saw him. He 
was a frightful looking object— almost 
black in the face, and already greatly 
swollen, and in intense agony. Some 
of the neighbors from Clear Creek on 
their way to Hillsboro to hear John 
Shields preach, fortunately stopped in 
time to witness his death, which oc- 
curred in a short time. 

Uncle Tom Trimble was bitten the 
same year, but happened to be at home 
at the time, and was soon cured by a 
prescription furnished by Jo. Swearin- 
en. A. Gossett was also bitten, per- 
aps a year or two earlier, while out 

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170 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO . ' 

hunting, but was also fortunately safe keeping until he could be taken to 
cured by applying a fresh leaf of to- Chillicothe for trial. The second night 
banco to the wound. after he was incarcerated, he managed 

The Commissioners of Highland to saw out of the jail at the door, after 
county held an adjourned meeting on getting his hand cuffs off. lie was 
the 28th of June* 1808, at Knox’s tavern caught the next day, however, and 
in Hillsborough. After transacting . brought back. 

considerable ordinary business of the For several days and nights after 
county the Board came to the account this the jail had to be guarded by the 
Hied by Allen Trimble for repairing citizens of Hillsborough and vicinity, 
the jail door, fetters and hand cuffs. They were ordered out by the Sheriff 
The new jail, which had just been and marched their rounds with rifle in 
completed, by the hanging of the strong hand. John Davidson, John Moore, 
wrought iron doors, made by Jonathan George W. Barrere, Levi Warner, Wm. 
Lupton, near 7 where Leesburg now Barnett, James D. Scott, Allen Trim- 
stands, and wagoned by Evan Evans to ble, B. H. Johnson, Augustus Richards, 
the seat of Justice, was believed to be Enoch B. Smith, John Belzer, James 
proof against all attempts to break out. McConell, John , Rickman, and some 
But its fallibility was demonstrated by ten or twelve others were required to ' 
the first person committed to its guar- act as guards. Tong was then se*nt un- 
dianship. One Thomas Tong, of Bain- der a strong escort to Chillicothe. 
bridge, stole a horse in Ross county, Frederick Fraley, being a blacksmith, 
and took refuge in the Brushcreek was called by the Commissioners to ap- 
Hills. A reward was offered for him praise the repairs of the jail, &c„ for 
and he was caught and brought to which he was allowed ojie dollar. The 
Hillsborough and committed to jail by Commissioners then audited Allen 
’Squire Enoch B. Smith. Tong, was a Trimble’s account for the blacksmith 
desperate fellow— tall, active-apd very work at nineteen dollars and sixty-two 
strong. He was merely committed for and one half cents. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

THE TOWNSHIP OF HIGHLAND — A DESCRIPTION OF A GENERAL MUSTER- 
ELECTION RETURNS— THE WHIPPING POST. 



At this session of the Commissioners 
the following order was made: “Or- 
dered that there be a township laid put 
of the name of Richland, and bounded 
as follows, to-wit; * Beginning at the 
west boundary line of Highland coun- 
ty, on Anderson’s road leading from 
Cincinnati to Chillicothe; thence east- 
wardly with said road to where the old 
road, leading from New Market tQ 
Mad River^ crosses said road; thence a 
straight line to Joshua Huzzey’s, and 
thence a •straight line to leave Edward 
Curtice on the right of said line, to a 
road laid out from Hillsborough to Ur- 
bana, on Mad River, and thence such 
a course as will leave James Mill’s two 
miles West of said line, to intersect the 
Champaigh county line, and thence 
westerly on the Highland county line 
to the beginning.” * 

The Court of Common Pleas, on the 
28th day of June, 1808, ordered that the 
township of Richland be entitled to 



three Justices of the Peace, and that 
the Trustees of said township be noti- 
fied thereof. This township was regu- 
larly organized during the summer of 
that year, and thenceforth for a time 
became one of the townships of High- 
land county. It embraced nearly all of 
the territory of the present townships 
of Union and Dodson and a considera- 
ble portion of Fairfield; but. in the 
course of some years, the further di- 
visions of the county into townships, as 
its population and resources increased, 
completely annihilated the large and 
promising township of Richland, and 
lopg ago its very name and existence 
were forgotten, and it ceased.fore^er to 
form an integral portion of the civil and 
olitical localities of Highland. The 
rst Justices of the Peace of this town- 
ship were Jesse Aughs, Thomas Hink- 
son and Absalom Vanmeter, who were 
elected and qualified prior to October, 
1808. 



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171 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO. 

At this session of the Commissioners dollars and fifty cents for two quires of 
the boundaries of New Market town- paper and making out the duplicates 
ship were again changed as follows, to- for the county, and for three days ex- 
wit: “From the crossing of the Clear amining said duplicates, and making 
Creek road and Rocky Fork, a north- out an exhibit for the year 1808, and 
westerly course to Andre wKessinger’s; for one day’s acting as Commissioner 
thence with the old Mad River road to and one day's clerking. 

Anderson’s road; thence westwardly At this session of the Board, Moses 
with said road as before.” Commis- Patterson resigned his office of Com- 
sioners adjourned to the 30th of July, missioner and also of Clerk of tlxe 
on which day they again , met at the Board. 

same place as before. The only busi- Tne first J ustices of the Peace jelect- 

ness of this session was to determine ed in Paint township were Jesse Lucas 
upon the location of the Court House and Nicholas Robinson, who were duly 
on the public square, and the following qualified by the Court of Common 
order to that effect was then made. Pleas, on the 6th of September, 1808; 
“Ordered that the Court House be set the Trustees were Zeuri Combs, Jbsiah 



on the public square. With the door 
eastwardly and thirty-three feet from 
High street, and the southerly square 
the same distance from Main street, 
each square parallel with said streets.*' 
Commissioners adjourned. This im- 
portant point being settled, the ground 
was broken and the work of laying the 
foundation of the Court House com- 
menced early in August of this year., 
The stone for the wails were mostly ob- 
tained frpm a quarry which was open- 
ed for that purpose, and which was the 
first opened in or around the town plat, 
and is yet to be seen in the southern 
suburbs of the town. A consider- 
able quantity of stone was, how- 
ever, gathered up around the outskirts, 
which could be obtained without the 
labor of quarrying. The impression 
then arose and existed for many years 
afterwards, that good building rock 
could not be procured in this neighbor- 
hood, but experience has since demon- 
strated the contrary. 

On the 6th of September, of this year, 
the Commissioners again held a special 
session, aud after issuing orders to pay 
for wolf scalps, road surveys, &c., or- 
dered that the road to Countryman’s 
mill be established, agreeable to* the re- 
port of the viewers, and that the same 
be opened a width not exceeding thirty 
feet. This road is the old Sinking 
Springs road. 

On the 7th day of October they again 
met in special session, and after paying 
for killing a number of wolves, “Order- 
ed that a way be viewed for a road, the 
nearest and best route from the ford/ 
next above Thomas Rogers* on Paint 
Creek, the nearest ana best way to 
Hillsborough, and that Jacob Hair, 
William Hill and Benjamin Golladay 
view the same and report to the next 
Board of Commissioners the advant- 
ages, &c., and that James Johnson sur- 
vey the same.” Ordered that Moses 
JPattersou receive an brder for thirty 



Tomlinson and Jesse Lucas and the 
Clerk, Joshua Lucas. We are unable 
to give the names of the first Consta- 
bles in this township. Indeed, it is ex- 
tremely difficult to obtain authentic in- 
formation as to these officers in any of 
the townships of the county at the date 
of which we speak. 

In the new township of Richland, 
Jesse Hughes, William Noble and 
Thomas Hardwick were the first Trus- 
tees and Absalom Vanmeter Clerk. 
The first Constables in this township 
can not be ascertained. 

In the township of Liberty, Daniel 
Fraley and Samuel Evans were duly 
elected Justices of the Peace and quali- 
fied on the 2d day of September, 1808. 
George W. Barrere and George Cailev 
were qualified as J ustices of the Peace 
of New Market township, on the 26th 
of October of this year, ahd Bigger 
Head for the township of Brushcreek. 

During the month of September of this 
year the first “general muster** of the or- 
ganized militia of the county was held at 
Capt. Billy Hill's on Clear Creek. This 
was at that day, and for some years 
prior to this date, had been a prominent 
oint in the county, proceeding chiefly, 
owever, from the fact that one of the 
first, if not the first, store in the county 
was established there. It was at this 
time, perhaps, nearer the center of the 
population of the county than the old 
seat of justice, which was objectionable 
at any rate, in consequence of the feud 
between the citizens of that place and 
vicinity and the people of other sections 
of the county, which grew out of the re- 
moval of the county seat two years be- 
fore. Hillsborough was not stall adapt- 
ed at that day to the evolutions of the 
military, for the plain reason thit the 
streets were yet full of logs, and the sur- 
rounding grounds had not been bleared 
out, except in a few instances : fbr pota- 
toes. Hill's meadow was therefore 
chosen for the exercised of the day, 



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172 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY OHIO. 



which was bright and pleasant for the 
season. 

Ten o’clock was the hour lor the “roil 
call” of the different companies, but 
long before that time the men and boys 
began to pour in from a^l quarters, 
through the thick green woods and 
from the dim paths and traces leading in 
the direction of the muster ground. A 
large number, chiefly boys, however, 
came on foot, many o! them a distance 
of '^fifteen miles, and though too young 
for enrollment and present only through 
curiosity, yet they felt a military enthu- 
siasm equal if not superior to their sen- 
iors — the much envied officers and men 
in the ranks — and they longed for the 
day when they could be permitted to 
shoulder the rifle and keep step to the 
tap of the drum. This feeling is com- 
mon, perhaps, to all boys, but with boys of 
eighty years ago it was peculiarly strong 
and active. They were the sons of Rev- 
olutioners and Indian fightihg pioneers 
and the stories of the struggles and the 
triumphs of those times, not taught by 
books, but from the lips of surviving 
actors, or mellowed and beautified in 
song as poured forth in the /ich and 
clear strains of their mother’s voice, 
while they toddled about the cabin in 
the woods, or clung to her knee by the 
clear light of an early autumn evening 
fire, as she busily plyed the wool cards 
or spinning wheel, had deeply impress- 
ed their youthful minds. Then, too, al- 
though no newspapers had yet found 
their wav to the humble home of the 
Highland, farmer, tales of the achieve- 
ments of the great Captain of modern 
times had some how slowly traveled out 
to the back woods of the West, and his 
brilliant campaigns of the Rhine, the 
Danube and the ro — his personal hero- 
ism at Lodi, and his overwhelming vic- 
tories at Marengo, Austerlitz, Jena and 
Eylau, had sent their magic influence 
through the invisible medium of the air, 
far over rivers, mountains and seas, to 
the hearts of the pioneer boys of High- 
land, who hurried from their log cabins 
by daybreak, traversed the woods to the 
gathei^ng place at Billy Hill’s, watched 
cunningly the maneuvers of the militia, 
fancied the little, uncouth squad one of 
the grand armies of the French Emperor 
and longed to be heroes — in battle, 
wounded or killed in the cause of their 
country — to win glory and become men 
of history for all coming time. 

Besides this, a muster in those days 
was almost tne only novelty in the 
country. The county was new, it is 
true, but already military companies 
had been organized two years in some 
parts of it. At New Market there were 



two companies, and one in Fairfield 
township. The spirit, however, pervad- 
ed the entire people of the county and 
during the spring and summer of 1808 
other parties emulated their neighbors. 
It became necessary as a well defined 
public duty, to form companies and drill 
them, whenever a sufficient number of 
available men could be collected. 
Brushcreek and Liberty townships or- 
ganized their companies and Greenfield 
—then a part of Fairfield township, al- 
ways public spirited, — also formed her 
citizens and those of the surrounding 
neighborhood into a large and hand- 
some company, commanded by John 
Coffee. Tne Brushereek company was 
commanded by James Wilson, and the 
Liberty township men by Samuel 
Evane, with Allen Trimble for Lieuten- 
ant. The names of the Commandera of 
the other companies have already been 
given. In all, they amounted to six full 
companies when assembled on the mus- 
ter ground, and falling short of the re- 
quired number for a regiment were or- 
ganized into a battalion under the com- 
mand of a Major. 

At 10 o’clock on the day of which we 
speak all the members of the six com- 
panies were assembled on Hill’s meadow, 
their horses hitched around to the limbs 
of trees, neighing, stamping and doing 
their part most faithfully to keep up a 
noise till the drums and fifes of the sev- 
eral companies struck up and the hoarse 
cry of the orderlies of “fall in” — Captains 
Barrere, Wilson,, Coffee, Berryman, 
Evans, Bernard’s company — was heard. 

These companies being formed and 
handed over by their Sergeants to their 
Captains, G. W. Barrere being a military 
man and one of the oldest Captains, 
took upon himself the duties of Adju- 
tant for the time and formed all the 
companies into column. When thus ar- 
ranged, they presented a fine appear- 
ance. They were mostly men in the 
prime and bloom of life, inured to hard- 
ship, toil and privation, and the whole 
line of over five hundred exhibited a 
picture of health and good humor rarely 
witnessed. They appeared fully to real- 
ize the idea of citizen soldiers in a free 
country. 

When all was ready a flourish of 
drums at one end of the line announced 
the approach of the Commander, Major 
Anthony Franklin. He appeared on a 
handsome bay, well caparisoned, and ap- 
parently fully conscious of the import- 
ance of the position which he occupied. 
The Major came not, however, alone, 
for some half a dozen half grown boys, 
full of military ardor, had mounted their 
father’s horses and precipitately joined 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY; OHIO. 173 



him, or rather fallen in his ifcnmediate 
rear jnqt before he entered the field, and 
formed his rather uncouth and totally, 
to him, unconscious escort as he 'slowly 
rode to the center of the line and faced 
to their front at a respectful distance, 
the boys supporting him a little in the 
rear, on the tight and left. The Major 
was splendidly uniformed^and the only 
officer, by the way, of the Battalion who 
was — in a blue coat of the Revolution- 
ary style, turned up with buff leather 
breeches and top boots— long sword and 
cocked hat, adorned with a magnificent 
black ostrich feather. The whole equip- 
ment, including the sword, was that 
which his father had worn at the sur- 
render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and, 
as a matter of course, struck the “ranks” 
almost with amazement, and awed them 
into the most profound silence. But the 
Major, who well supported his dignity, 
soon relieved the gazing and admiring 
ranks. He raised on tip-toe in his broad 
and heavy stirrups — all his escort imita- 
ting him— and at the top of his voice, 
cried — “Attention, the battalion ! Shoul- 
der arms ; about face, march,” and in an 
instant all was in motion. It is worthy 
of remark here, that most of the rifles 
shouldered on that occasion, had been 
either in the battles of the Revolution, 
and were the only bequests of dying 
heroes to their sons, or in the many bor- 
der frays with the Indians. They were 
therefore shouldered and borne on this 
occasion with just pride at the command 
of Major Franklin. One rifle, we know, 
was carried on that drill by James A. 
Trimble, which his father used as his 
weapon of offence and defence at the 
memorable and bloody battle of the 
“Point,” which was fiercely fought by 
the gallant Virginians from day light 
till dark. 

The dress of Barrere’s riflemen was 
white hunting shirts and looked very 
well, but that of the militia men was ex- 
ceedingly^ varied and plainly bespoke 
their plainly different origins in the old 
States* ' Of course each man put on his 
best to attend such a large gathering of 
fellow citizens, and men were seen in the 
same company in the full dress of the 
Revolutionary era, except the hat, and 
of the border pioneer— the shad bellied 
coat, knee breeches and long stockings, 
and the leather breeches and hun»iner 
shirt, at the side of which hung th - 
otter wolf skin shot pouch, were u 
side by side. Every variety of d re«s t* - 
tween, these extremes ’was perceptible 
in the ranks. The officers, as we add 
before, had no uniform, but of course 
wore their best clothes and looked clean. 
They, however, had swords— the old 



long broad sword of the Revolution, and 
most of them had seen service in that 
glorious,conflict. 

The battalion was exercised pretty 
vigorously ior about two hours in the 
drill of the Baron de Steuben. During 
this time the Major seemed to feel the 
vast importance of the drill and handled 
himself with wonderful agility — gallop- 
ing from one end of the line to the 
other, followed by his escort of boys and 
superintending in person every evolu- 
tion. He at length, about 12 o’clock, 
the men being in a perfect drench of 
sweat, ordered a recess of one hour, 
which was cheerily heralded by the 
drums throughout the ranks. 

At 1 o’clock precisely the drums' beat 
tagrms, and the Highland militia again 
feil into ranks, less zealously, nowever, 
than in the morning. They had had a 
pretty warm lime oi it in the fore part 
of the day, ami haying hurriedly re- 
freshed themselves with ginger oread 
and whisky, felt like taking more rest 
than was in accordance with the disci- 
pline of the occasion. 

The battalion was again formed, and 
the Maj[or again took command, but his 
escort had greatly increased. Other 
boys .emboldened* by the example of 
those who bad dared to follow in his 
. train in the . morning, now mounted, 
most of them barebacked, and barefoot- 
ed, and some bareheaded, fell into the 
rear of the juvenile escort. After fol- 
lowing the mounted Commander of the 
five hundred round the field a’few times, 
all tho boys in attendance, who had 
heretofore maintained a respectful dis- 
tance during the forenoon, now joined 
on foot. So the Major 7 aqd the music 
were literally surrounded at times, at 
others, he hail a heterogeneous tail al- 
most as long in appearance, made up of 
boyson horses, colts and on foot, follow- 
ed by dogs, as the great comet which ap- 
peared three years later. Towards the 
close of tho drill, the Major rose on tip 
tofe in his stirrups and called at the top 
of his voice, “Attention, the Battalion ! 
The Battalion will take cur to form a 
hollow sqiiar.” The Major was an old 
Virginian, and spoke to perfection the 
.vernacular In which r is sounded. short 
at the termination of a word. In this 
evolution . considerable difficulty was 
found. . It was, however, at last accom- 
plished Jo the satisfaction of the Com- 
mander aud the. officers who stood out- 
side were ordered to tako distance, so 
that the companies might again resume 
their position in line. In doing so they 
had to face the square and of course step 
backwards to the tap of the drum. 
While thus moving slowly back, close to 



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I 



/ 

m A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO . 

Attorney for the Commonwealth enter- Sheriff of the county, in the public 
ed up a nolle prosequi and the said defen- square . in the presence of a crowd of 
dant was discharged Without day. ” The spectators, it being the first punishment 
only law in foihe at that day against the of the kind inflicted in the county, 
sale of intoxicating liquors was a Terri- There was no whipping post then erect- 
torial law passed in December 1799, and ed for the purpose, ana the Sheriff had 
adopted by the first State Legislature of to tie him up to a beech tree while he 
the State, makihg it penal to sell to executed that part of the sentenco of 
Indians, and it was doubtless under this the Court. A large number of women 
statute that HinksOn was indicted. came from the surrounding country to 
The first clergyman licensed in High- witness the punishment They were all' 
land county by the Court to solemnise in a house near the Court House— 
the rites of matrimony, was the Rev. Knox’s tavern — and the Sheriff, aware 
Isaac Pavy, Methodist, who came out of the purpose and not liking that addi- 
from Kentucky prior to this date and tion to the disgusting exhibition, he 
settled on LeescrOek a mile north of purchased a peck, of green apples of 
where the present town et Leesburg Tom John, who had just arrived from 
now 1 stands. He was licensed at the Pennsylvania with a wagon load which 
October term, 1808. Mr. Pavy was only he sola at four dollare per bushel, and 
a local preacher, but through life main- took them into the house and poured 
tained a respectable position in ^ the them out. on the floor among the women, 
church, and was esteemed as a good Apples at that early day m Highland, 
citizen. - were not only a rarity but to many a 

As a specimen of* the estimate in curiosity, and the women ot course 
which assaults and batteries were held scrambled for them. While thus di- 
by the Court in those days, we give the verted Richards went out and whipped 
following extract from the journals of Knott, and greatly disappointed the 
the Court at this term (October 1808). women. 

'‘State of Ohio vs. Benjamin Parcell— The law under which this punish- 
Indictment for an assault and battery on ment was inflicted was originally adopt- 
the body of J. Collins — this day came ed by the Territory, as early as 1788, and 
the Attorney for the Commonwealth again by the Legislature on the organ- 
and the defendant by his Attorney and ization of the State, and subsequently 
plead not guilty — afterwards, to-wit : on re-enacted. The original law gave the 
the same day, plea withdrawn and plea Sheriff power to bind out any one con- 
of guilty entered and submitted to the victed of lareeny, who was too poor to 
Court. Whereupon it is considered by pay costs of prosecution, for term not 
the Court that the. said defendant be exceeding seven years, to any person 
fined twelve and one-half 'cents and who would dischaige the same. The 
costs of prosecution, and the said defend* statute under which Knott was punish- 
ant in mercy go hence without day.” ed, was enacted in 1807, and authorized 
The Grand Jury at this term of Court not more than twenty-five stripes on the 
held their sessions in Charles Lang’s naked back, which was afterwards in- 
tailor shop on Beech street, and found creased by statute, passed in 1809, to 
one indictment against Francis Knott, thirty-nine stripes on the naked back. 
Inn keeper of the township of Fairfield A whipping post was soon after erected 
— as the record has it— for Lareeny. On on the north side of the public square, 
the next day Knott was arrainced and at which this disgraceful mode of pun- 
pleaa not guilty. A jury was called and ishment was frequently inflicted. This 
he was put upon his trial, The evidence law remained in force fn Ohio till Janu- 
was heard and a verdict of guilty ary, 1815, when, much to the credit of 
brought in by the jury, when the Court the State, it was repealed, 
adjourned until the next day. Oh the At this term of Court three indict- 
meeting of Court in the morning, Knott ments were found against Jonathan 
was called up for sentence, which the Dutton for passing counterfeit coin. He 
Court pronounced as follows: “It is was admitted to bail and failed to appear 
considered by the Court that he be for trial. 

whipped eleven stripes on the naked Considerable more business than at 
bacx, that he shall pay to John Moore, any former time in Highland, was trans- 
the person from whom he took the acted by the Court at this term. Among 
money, ten dollars, that he be fined in the cases docteted at this term, is James 
the sum of ten dollars, also that he pay B. Finley against S. Hindman for slan- 
the costs of the prosecution and. that he der. After a session of three days, 
be imprisoned until the judgment of the Court adjourned without day. 

Court be complied with.” Knott was The first tanyard in Hillsborough was 
accordingly whipped by Q us. Richards, started during the summer ana fall of 



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* A HISTORY 01 HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 17? 

1808, bv John Campton. This yard and enlarged and improved it, carried on the 
the few small builaings necesaair, were business for more, than a quarter of a 
sold by him the next year to Allen and century. 

James A. Trimble, who, having greatly 



o *- 

• i 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

ERECTION OF THE COURT HOUSE— COMMISSIONERS’ PROCEEDINGS — PATTERSON *S 
MILL— A HORSE-THIEF AND HIS PUNISHMENT— TOE COLLEGE TOWNSHIP 
ROAD— ORGANIZATION OF UNION TOWNSIHP— ELECTION RETURNS FOR 1809. 



It was stated in a former chapter 
that the foundation of the Court House 
was commenced about the first of 
August, 1808. 

This part of the work progressed 
rapidly, and was completed in a few 
days. There was no cellar enclosed by 
it, and, of course, none under the house. 
Much of the stone used in laying this 
foundation was very worthless, being 
small, and in many instances imperfect, 
and totally unsuited for such work. 
An impression, however, which was 
then pretty well established in the 
minds of the people that a good quality 
ot building stone could not do procured 
in the neighborhood of Hillsboro, caus- 
ed the Commissioners to believe that 
such an apology of a foundation was 
quite as good as could be expected, and 
imperfect as it was known to be, no 
serious objections were raised. 

Shields and Pye had completed their 
brick kiln, and while it cooled gathered 
the stone and built the foundation, so 
that the brick work also commenced in 
the month of August— about the mid- 
dle— and progressed with considerable 
rapidity. 

No ceremonies, usual at this dav, 
when a great public building is com- 
menced, marked the beginning of the 
erection of the first Court House in 
Highland. It was, however, a large 
bunding for that day— by far the most 
important, as well as the largest, and 
first brick house erected In the county 
—and as a master of course attracted 
much attention fftr and near. 

In size it was About forty feet square. 
We are sorry we are unable to speak 
with more accuracy on this point, but 
we can find neither plan nor specifica- 
tions other than those already given. 
It will be remembered that the Com- 
missioners fixed the locality of the 
building on r the public square, at thirty- 
§ three reet distant from Main and High 



streets— the wallsparallel to the lines 
of these streets. There was one large 
door fronting each of these streets. 
The sills of tnese doors— for they were 
nearly level with the ground, ana there- 
fore needed no steps— were of sandstone, 
and brought from near Sinking Springs. 
They were very large and heavy, and 
difficult to haul. The house was square, 
except a recess in the wall on the west 
end, occupied by the judges’ seats, 
which fronted three windows. Two 
large old-fashioned fire-places, in which 
burned immense wood-piles in cold 
weather, were in the Court room, one 
on either side of the bench. The bar 
was partitioned off between these, and 
immediately in front of the Court A 
box was placed on the right side of the 
bench for the use of the traverse jury, 
and another immediately beneath the 
bench for the use of the grand jury. 
The prisoner’s box was on the outer 
edge of the area, and made high and 
secure. No one but lawyers, suitors, 
witnesses and officers of the Court 
were allowed to enter the “bar,” as the 
interior was called, and so to secure 
this, the door of the oar was so arranged 
as to be securely kept by a sworn door- 
keeper. The outer floor of the building 
was paved with brick, and on either 
side of the east door were raised seats 
for spectators. Altogether it was quite 
a comfortable and roomy Court room. 
There was a prof usion of large windows, 
square, giving an abundance of light 
and air. The ceiling was supported by 
large fluted wood pillars, and the whole 
inside wood work was painted brown. 
The upper story was divided into four 
rooms, for juries and other purposes 
connected with the business of the 
Court. The roof was square, ahd ran 
to a point in the center, on which was 
a small cupola, surmounted by a spire 
of iron with a dart-shaped point and 
cross piece. 



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178 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 



The brick work of this building was 
completed late in the fall, and it was 
partly inclosed before winter set in, but 
the carpenter work was not finished till 
the following summer. Some years 
elapsed before the public square was 
fenced in with any degree of permanen- 
cy, and the Court House and jail stood 
out in the commons. Very frequently 
the doors of the former were left open 
for weeks together, and then it was oc- 
cupied by the sheep of the neighbor- 
hood, as a place of rest and refuge from 
dogs and wolves at night. This house, 
however, stood and served the people 
of the county pretty well for a quarter 
of a century, being taken down after 
the completion of the present Court 
House in 1834. 

On the 26th day of October, 1808, the 
new Board of Commissioners met at 
Barnett’s tavern, and proceeded to elect 
Richard Barrett; their clerk. Consider- 
able business was transacted during 
this session of the Commissioners, 
among which their record informs us 
that they ordered Gus. Richards, Sheriff 
of .Highland county, to be paid eight 
dollars for whipping Francis Knott. 
They then adjourned till the first Mon- 
day of December, next, on which day 
they again met. At this session they 
ordered a survey and view of a road, 
beginning at the south-west end of 
High street, Hillsboro, to, Patterson’s 
miu, thence to New Market. They 
also ordered a survey of the road known 
at present as the Marble Furnace road. 
At this session John Smith was order- 
ed to be paid ten dollars and fifty cents 
for blankets for the jail, and "Levi 
Wafner fifty cents for a b$d furnished 
the prisoners in jail. 

During the year 1808 Moses Patterson 
settled permanently on the farm which 
he purchased three years before, and 
started a distillery in connection with 
his‘mill. ne built .his house on the 
south-east side of one of those converg- 
ing hijl points which approach the 
present Ripley pike south of the toll- 
gate, and a short distance north of 
where the road now crosses the mill 
race. All on the rear of his house was 
thick woods, and remained so while he 
continued to reside there. He built 
his house of hewn logs in part and part 
of frame. It was pretty large for the 
time, having several rooms. The roof 
was of shingles, and a porch in front 
gave it an air of comfort not common 
at that day. The still house was in the 
lower basement story of the dwelling, 
in which the worthy proprietor for 
many years continued to make a limit- 
ed quantity of pure whisky. He had a 



large and interesting family of sons 
and daughters, and, until the family 
was broken up by marriage and death, 
maintained a high reputation for the 
old-fashioned genuine hospitality, 
which was so characteristic of the coun- 
ty then. That oddly-fashioned 
old hospitable house of the Patter- 
sons, which at the early days of which 
we speak, was known for miles around 
as a pleasant place to visit, and especial- 
ly the mill boy, who having left his 
father's cabin at day-light, many miles 
off, with his bag of com on his horse, 
after waiting for hours for his turn, al- 
ways was grateful in his remembrance 
of the considerate kindness of this 
pioneer family, who never failed to take 
all such to the house to warm and re- 
fresh them with food, but like all the 
early homes of the first settlers, it has 
long since totally disappeared, and it is 
now difficult even to point out the 
precise locality on which it stood, ; so 
with the old mill, and everything else 
pertaining to the improvements made 
at that place by this most worthy tam- 
iiy. 

In the latter part of Kovember of this 
year a bear was killed by some of the 
Rocky Fork hunters, up the creek 
above where Daniel Inskeep settled, 
which was then something to be talked 
of. Patterson had been out hunting in 
the fore part of the day of which we 
speak, and discovered the trail of a bear, 
but had no dog with him and thought it 
better to return home and get his dogs 
and some of his neighbors before he 
commenced the pursuit. He gathered 
his dogs and some eight or ten of his 
neighbors and started to the trail. It 
however happened that Joel Brown, 
who was a good hunter, had got on the 
trail of the bear shortly afterPatterson 
left it, and pursuing him pretty closely, 
had turned him back on his track. As 
the party with Patterson went up they 
met the bear rather unexpectedly, but 
neither dogs nor men in those daysever 
backed from a bear or anything else, so 
the dogs attacked him at once, and being 
in strong force, gave him a pretty 
severe fight fox a time. Finally one of 
the party of hunters, named John Elli 
ott, shot him while t^ie dogs had him 
down. This closed the hunt, and left 
Joel Brown on a cold trail. The hunt- 
ers divided the carcass among them. 
It was, even then, a rarity on the Rocky 
Fork south of Hillsboro, to have bear 
meat, and this being fat, was esteemed 
a great delicacy, which the whole neigh- 
borhood were permitted to share, some 
even taking the feet. 

The settlement around Sinking 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 179 



Spring continued to increase slowly. 
Improvements were only, however, 
made at that day for purposes of real 
utility, and most generally urged by the 
most pressing necessity. The summer 
previous to the date of which we now 
write (1807) the first hewed log barn in 
that region, and very likely in the 
country, was erected by Jacob Hiestand 
on his farm adjacent to the Sinking 
Spring. It was a large heavy barn ana 
required many hands. They came 
from all directions. Many of them re- 
siding thirty miles apart, and meeting 
at the raising for the first time in their 
lives. They came on horse-back, car- 
rying their axes with them, and al- 
though the number of men thus col- 
lected exceeded fifty, the preparations 
for eating were ample, and all shared 
the substantial of the day to their en- 
tire satisfaction. 

So wild were the woods surrounding 
Sinking Springs at that day, that the 
wolves actually came and killed sheep 
in the very door yards of the cabins, 
as we were assured by Mr. John 
Hiestand, who was then a lad of 
eight years of age. He says in the 
spring of 1808, a large black bear came 
into the shed of that same large barn 
built by Jacob Hiestand, his father, the 
proceeding fall, looking round for prey. 

On the 14th day of October, 1808, the 
second term of the Supreme Court for 
the county of Highland, was held at 
Hillsborough, in the tavern of William 
Barnett on Beech street. The Hon. 
Samuel Huntington and William 
Sprig#* Judges. The first business of 
this Court was the appointment of a 
clerk. It will be remembered that 
there had been no term of this Court 
since 1806, in this county, and that in 
the mean time David Hays, the clerk 
of both, had died. Allen Trimble was 
appointed clerk. As this appointment 
is the first on the journals or this Court 
in the county, it is worthy of a place in 
this history as it stands on the record. 
“Proceeded to the appointment of a 
clerk, when Allen Trimble was duly 
elected clerk of the Supreme Court of 
the county of Highland, which appoint- 
ment is in the words following, to-wit: 
State of Ohio, Highland oounty, ss. On 
the first day of the October term of the 
Supreme Court for the county of High- 
land, Alien Trimble, having given 
bond and security according to law, 
was appointed Clerk of Supreme Court 
for Highland county, and ordered to 
record this appointment and the afore- 
said bond, ana to deliver said bond to 
the Prosecuting Attorney of said 
pountv, 14th of October, 1808. Samuel 



Huntington and William Sprigg, 
Judges/* Then comes the bond which 
is in the usual form of official bonds; 
John Smith and William Barnett, se- 
curities. 

At this term of Court James Daniels 
was admitted to the Bar as an Attor- 
ney and Counsellor at Law 7 and Solicitor 
in Chancery. 

The first divorce case in Highland 
came on for hearing. This was on the 
petition of Simon Shoemaker against 
his wife, Elizabeth. The cause assign- 
ed wa? wilful absence from the bed 
and board of the complainant by 
elopement a short time after marriage. 
After hearing the testimony, the Court 
dismissed the bill at plaintiffs cost. 
Some other cases were disposed of at 
this term. No others, however, of 
further interest appear on the records. 
Court sat only one day, and adjourned 
till the 12th day of October, 1810. 

The term of the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas for Highland county was 
held at Barnett’s tavern in Hillsboro, 
on the 27th day of February, 1809. 
Judge Belt, the President, was not at 
this term. Considerable business was, 
however, disposed of by the Associates. 
The term lasted six days. Several in- 
dictments were found by the Grand 
Jury, and two were found guilty of 
horse stealing and one of petit larceny. 

At this term Abbot Goddard, a young 
Methodist preacher just from Fox 
Creek, Fleming county, Kentucky, and 
the regular circuit preacher that year 
for Highland, who held by. far the 
greater part of his meetings at .the neat 
and hospitable cabin of the Fitzpat- 
ricks, was licensed to solemnize the rite 
of matrimony. He was the second 
clergyman in the county who feceived 
his authority from the Common Pleas 
Court. * 

We regret our inability to speak 
more at length of his history, our in- 
formation being limited to what we 
have given— but from general reputa- 
tion, his character was fully worthy ©f 
his high calling and profession. 

On the records of this term the odi- 
ous whipping law again makes a con- 
spicuous mark. One William McDon- 
ald was found guilty of horse stealing 
by a jury of his countrymen and sen- 
tenced by the Court, “that he, the said 
William McDonald, be whipped twen- 
ty-five stripes on the naked Back, and 
restore the property stolen of George 
Kile, the owner thereof, and pay fifty- 
five dollars, the value thereof, to him; 
that he pay a fine of one dollar, that he 
be imprisoned sixty days, and that he be 
forever after incapable of holding any 



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180 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



office of trust, being a Juror, or giving 
testimony in any Court of record in 
this State, also that he shall pay the 
costs of the prpsecution, and be impris- 
oned until the judgment of the Court 
be complied with.’ 

This was the first prosecution in the 
county for horse stealing, and contrast- 
ed with the humane ana comparatively 
mild punishment inflicted for similar 
violations of the criminal code at the 
present day, the mode as well as the ex- 
tent of the punishment is shocking^ 
There was no penitentiary in Ohio at 
that date and horses had a greater rel- 
ative value than at the present day. 
In addition to this they were of neces- 
sity much more 'exposed. Perhaps all 
the citizens of the county were obliged, 
particularly in the spring, summer and 
fall seasons, to avail themselves of the 
advantages of the wild but luxuriant 
range in the extensive woods adjacent 
to almost every farm, for their plough 
and saddle horses, as well as for their 
cows, sheep and hogs. Their value to 
the inhabitants was greatly enhanced 
by their comparative scarcity, and the 
positive necessity for their services. It 
is not, therefore, very astonishing even 
at this enlightened day, when properly 
looked at, that such withering and 
overwhelming penalties should be at- 
tached to the crime of horse stealing. 

At this term the Court agreed to al- 
low the Director of the town of Hills- 
borough, George Richards, for his ser- 
vices the following fees, to-wit: “For 
executing deeds for each lot, fifty cents, 
and six per cent, for all money collect- 
ed and accounted for, except the first 
payments. For procuring blank deeds 
thirteen dollars, also the said Richards 
is not to be charged with interest on 
money collected by the first of May, 
1809.” 

During the February term of . this 
year the Court proceeded to appoint a 
permanent Clerk— Allen Trimble’s ap- 
pointment having . been merely pro 
tempore , whereupon he was duly ap- 
pointed for the term of seven years 
Clerk of the Common Pleas Court of 
Highland county mid thereupon he ap- 
peared before the Court and took the 
requisite oath of office and entered into 
bond with William Hill and David 
JqUy securities. 

The summer term of the Common 
Pleas Court met at the usual place in 
BBWwowgh on the 27th of June, this 
year, and without disposing of much 
business adjourned on the second day. 

On the 33d day of September, 1809v at 
a special session of the Common Pleas 
Court of Highland, Wiyiaffi A. ^riip- 



ble was appointed Deputy Clerk and 
took the oath of office. 

At the fall term of the Court, which 
was held at the usual place, Barnett's 
tavern, on the 23d day of October, 1809, 
Nicholas Watters was tried and found 
guilty of horse stealing. Judge Belt 
passed sentence in this case. He or- 
dered the Sheriff to “whip him fifty 
stripes on his naked back.” In addi- 
tion to this he was adjudged to “pay 
seventy-five dollars to Daniel Nordyke, 
from whom he stole the horse, and pay a 
fine of seventy-five dollars, be impris- 
oned one month and be forever inpa- 
pable of holding any office of trust, of 
being a Juror, of giving testimony in 
any Court in Ohio, and further, that he 
stand committed until the judgment of 
the Court be conudied with.” At the 
same term one Levi Wright was con- 
victed of petit larceny, and was sen- 
tenced by Judge Belt to be “whipped 
fifteen stripes on his. naked back, that 
he pay to Harrison Ratcliff, from whom 
he stole the property, fourteen dollars, 
pay a fine of ten dollars and be impris- 
oned three days and committed until 
the sentence of the Court is complied 
with.” These men were both whipped 
in the public square, at the new whip- 
ping post, and then put in jail, which 
was so insecure that it had to be regu- 
larly guarded night and day for many 
weeks. Ths price paid to the guards 
was fifty cents a night and twenty-five 
cents a day. 

The Eagle Spring, we are informed 
by an old settler who knows, was 
named as early as 1803, from the cir- 
cumstance of a bald eagle’s nest having 
been found in a large oak tree, a few 
rods below the spring and immediately 
on the branch. There were two of 
these birds seen, one of which was sit-' 
ting. The discovery became a matter 
of some notoriety in the neighborhood, 
as this species of eagle was rare in 
Highland oven at that early day. Jim- 
my Smith, who then lived on the Rocky 
Fork, heard of the eagle’s neat, and 
fearing they would carry off a couple 
qf young lambs from which he hoped 
soon to he able to get sufficient wool to 
make at least a few warm socks for 
winter, determined to kill them. He 
watched for several days until he got a 
shot. It happened that he was success- 
ful and killed the hen bird, which ef- 
fectually broke up the family, the eock 
disappearing at once and forever from 
the vicinity. From that time the 
spring, which is a remarkably bold and 
fine one, bore the name of “Baine 
Spring.” Such is believed to he tbo 
true origin pf \ts n$me£S4 complete 



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181 



A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY \ OHIO . 



history of the spring, or rather men’s 
doings in connection with it, would be 
a far more difficult and laborious task. 
Although this locality is only a mile 
from the Court House, yet it gushed 
forth its cold waters from its rocky 
mouth in the most profound and un- 
broken solitude, The old road, or 
rather trace, from New Market to 
Clear Creek, which passed over the 
ridge, immediately at the head of this 
spring, has been deserted for more 
than seventy years, and the new route 
to the old scat of justice passed half a 
mile south of the spring. Fifty years 
ago, and for many years preceeding 
that time, the Eagle Spring was a 
place of much resort for the people of 
Hillsborough. Parties of young ladies 
and men visited it almost every Sun- 
day in pleasant weather. It was also 
the favorite place for private barbecues, 
and on one or two occasions public 4th 
of July dinners were given at it. The 
procession forming at the Court House, 
and marching under a military escort 
to the music of the drum and fife to 
the spring, where most of the day was 
spent in eating, drinking, speech mak- 
ing, &c. This place in those days, and 
until the commencement of the past 
fifteen years, was a favorite resort for 
the sportsmen of the town, and during 
the spring and summer months it was 
by no means an unusual thing of a 
Saturday afternoon to see from ten to 
fifty persons there engaged, some in 
shooting at a mark, some pitching dol- 
lars, others fighting chickens, while 
perhaps two or three parties were en- 
gaged in playing “old sledge,” and the 
more thirsty portion at the spring 
making juleps and sucking them to 
their hearts' content. It was a great 
place in those days for social enjoy- 
ment and of course a great favorite, so 
much so, that when Col, A. Doggett 
opened his tavern, where the Parker 
House now is, in 1826, he named it for 
the spring, the Eagle Hotel. 

We have spoken of Abbott Goddard, 
and requested any one who might have 
information in addition to furnish it. 
In response to this a gentleman of this 
neighborhood has furnished us a copy 
of the “Home Circle ” a religious and 
literary periodical of much ability, pub- 
lished at Nashville, Tennessee, and 
edited by the Rev. L. D. Huston. ; n 
which is a brief obituary notice o* Mr. 
Goddard. From this we learn t!> t lie 
waft born in Virginia in 1785, and car- 
ried to Kentucky liy his parents v\ bile 
yet an infant, he was converted in the 
Methodist faith at the age of eiguteen 
and licensed to preach at tue age of 



twenty-one. The writer of the notice 
referred to, says Goddard was one of 
the most remarkable men in the west- 
ern pulpit forty years ago. He was a 
man of marked eccentricity, but al- 
ways in solemn earnest, possessing a 
certain rugged, resistless, awful power, 
which we have seen in no other man. 
Goddard died at peace in the State of 
Illinois, October 12th, 1857. 

At the June term of the Commis- 
sioners of the county, 1809, there was 
considerable business of interest trans- 
acted in addition to that named in the 
prefeeding chapter. 

The first in order was the location of 
a road, “beginning on the south end of 
the street in New Market that runs 
north and south, by Campton’s tanyard 
at Main street; thence south to the end 
of said street ; thence on a southerly di- 
rection, the nearest and best way to 
Boatman’s horse mill; thence to Gib- 
ler’smill; thence to Collins 1 saw mill; 
thence to Hough’s mill ; thence to in- 
tersect the Bracken county, Ky., road, 
at or near Judge Davidson’s.” 

John Walter, Lister of Fairfield 
township, was ordered at this term to 
be paid seventeen dollars for his, ser- 
vices; Frederick Kirp, Lister of Paint, 
seven dollars and fifty cents; John Mc- 
Quitty, Lister of New Market town- 
ship, eleven dollars; Samuel Harvey, 
Lister of Liberty township, twelve dol- 
lars; Malon Haworth, Lister of Rich- 
land township, fourteen dollars, and 
Jacob Miller ten dollars for his services 
as Lister of Brushcreek township. 
Listers at that day were allowed one 
dollar per day for their work. 

On the 12th day of June of 1809, 
the Commissioners settled with the 
Treasurer of the county, John Rich- 
ards, who accounted for two thousand 
five hundred and sixty dollars six cents 
and five mills, money received by him 
in his official capacity, of which the 
Board found that he had paid put on 
the orders of the county, one thousand 
eight hundred and sixty-seven dollars 
and eighty-seven cents, upon which it 
was ordered that the said Treasurer be 
paid by the county for his per cent., 
seventy-four dollars and forty-eight 
cents. 

An order was made by the Commis- 
sioners on the 14th of June, as follows; 
“Ordered that the west line of Paint 
township, running by Stitt’s field at 
Anderson’s State Road, a northerly 
course so as to intersect James Walter’s 
and William Cbalfont’s, thence with 
the Dividing Ridge, between the Big 
Eranch aud Rardiu’a Creek, to Rattle* 



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182 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY. OHIO . 



snake, thence with the meanderings of 
said creek as far as formerly.** 

The rates of tavern licenses were ad- 
j usted again at this term, by which the 
price in the county generally was fixed 
at seven dollars per annum, with the 
exceptions of Hillsboro, and on the 
College township road, where the rate 
was fixed at ten dollars. 

Many will doubtless inquire not only 
where the College township roaa was 
in Highland, but why the price of 
tavern license was fixed at so high a 
rate on it. 

The College township road, it will*be 
remembered, was one of the first roads 
opened through the county. It was 
opened by order of the Commissioners 
of Iioss county, in 1799, while that in- 
cluded not only all of the present coun- 
ty of Highland, but much of those ad- 
joining on the north and west. The 
immeaiate object of the road at that 
day was to secure a direct communica- 
tion between Chillicothe and the rich 
country on the Miamis, then the near- 
est settlement of any note to that place. 
After the State was admitted into the 
Union, the route was made the line of 
a State road by order of the 
State Road Commissioners, and open- 
ed up to the township of land secured 
by the United States, by the act of ad- 
mission, to Ohio for educational* pur- 
poses. This township is now named 
Oxford. It was for many years, how- 
ever, known as the College township, 
hence the name of t)ie road when es- 
tablished as a State road. This road 
passed from Chillicothe through Green- 
field and on west through the present 
towns of Monroe, Leesburg, New 
Lexington, in the present boundaries 
of Highland, thence past Morgantown, 
Snow Hill, Lebanon, and on to College 
township. 

For many years this road was the 
great thoroughfare west from Chilli- 
cothe— the east, indeed almost the en- 
tire travel and emigration passing on 
Zane’s trace from Wheeling west, 
traveled this route as the best and 
nearest to the rich bottoms of the two 
Miamis, and as early as the date of 
which we speak (1809) all the taverns 
on the road, and they were quite 
abundant, were crowded every night in 
the spring, summer and fall seasons. 
Persons traveling on horseback to look 
at the country, or hunt up their land- 
families moving from the old States in 
wagons, and others packing on horses, 
were almost hourly passing. The Col- 
lege township road continued long after 
to be the principal road between Cin- 
cinnati and Chillicothe, and numbers 



of the Cincinnati merchants going over 
the mountains to purchase $oods, with 
their pack horses ladened with Spanish 
dollars, were yearly travelers over this 
road and frequently sojourners for the 
night at the small taverns then kept in 
Greenfield. These taverns were nightly 
crowded and, of course, did a thriving 
business and could afford to pay a lib- 
eral price for their license. 

The county tax for this year waj fix- 
ed as follows by the Board at this ses- 
sioq, to-wit: Horses, &c., three years 
old, twenty-two cents each, cattle over 
three years old seven and one half 
cents. 

On the 17th of July, 1809, the Board 
of Commissioners held a special session 
in Hillsborough, at which time they 
ordered “that there be a township laid 
off by the name of Union aud bounded 
as follows, to-wit: Beginning where 
the old Mad River road crosses the An- 
derson State road, thence running a 
northerly course so as to include 
Joshua Hussey’s, thence on the same 
direction to the Highland county line, 
thence westerly along said county line 
to the Warren county line, thence with 
the said line to where it joins the Cler- 
mont county line, at the crossing of 
said State road, thence with said State 
road to the beginning. This new 
township took off all the southern part 
of Richland and included within its 
boundaries the present towns of 
Lynchburg and Willettsville. Writs of 
election were issued on which the nec- 
essary officers for the new township 
were elected and before the first of 
October the organization was perfect- 
ed. Joseph Vanmeter, William Noble 
and Abraham Vanmeter were the first 
Trustees of this township, and Absalom 
Vanmeter Clerk. 

Absalom Vanmeter was appointed 
collector for Richland township, Sam- 
uel Harvey collector for Fairfield, Lib- 
erty and New Market townships, and 
Frederick Kirp, of Faint and Brush- 
creek, at the J uly session, 1809. 

The land tax of the several townships 
of the county was fixed at this term as 
follows: New Market, State levy one 
hundred and seven dollars and eighteen 
cents, county levy eighty-seven dollars 
and fifty-five cents; State levy in Brush- 
creek nfty-two dollars and fifty-one 
cents, county levy fif ty-four dollars and 
sixteen cents; Liberty township State 
levy, two hundred and twenty-six dol- 
lars, county levy one hundred and sev- 
enty-four dollars; in Paint township, 
State levy seventy-one dollars and sev- 
enteen cents, county levy sixty-five 
dollars and fifty cents; for Fairfield 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO . 183 



township, State levy, two hundred apd 
six dollars and sixty-eight cents, county 
levy one hundred and sixty-five dollars 
and fifty-one cents, and for Richland, 
State levy, seventy-two dollars and 
ninety-nine cents, county levy, eighty- 
six dollars and seventy cents. 

The first death in the town bf Hills- 
boro was in the spring of 1809. Pear- 
son Starr, brother-in-law to Joshua 
Woodrow the Second, came out from 
Virginia with his wife and two child- 
ren, intending to take up his residence 
in Highland. He was stopping at 
Joshua's and had only been a day or 
two in the county, when he was taken 
sick and died in a few hours. , This 
death was quite distressing to the peo- 
ple of the place, chiefly proceeding from 
the fact that it was the first in the 
town, and vety sudden, and the person 
a stranger. The remains of Mr. Starr 
were followed to the grave by the en- 
tire population of the place and many 
persons from Clear Creek and Rocky 
Fork. The burial took place at what 
is now known, as the old Methodist 
grave yard on East street, and was the 
first at that place and also the first in 
the town. 

The October election in 1809 was not 
particularly interesting, there being but 
few offices to fill, and they only for the 
county. Joseph Swearingen was elected 
Representative, his competitors being 
William Lupton, Thomas Terry, James 
Wilson, Samuel Reece, Thomas Flinn 
and John Gossett. Gus. Richards was 
re-elected Sheriff almost without oppo- 
sition, Joshua Lucas and William Jack- 
son having received a few votes. Mor- 
gan Vanmeter and Enoch B. Smith 
w T ere elected Commissioners, the candi- 
dates for the office being Salmon Temp- 
lin, Enoch B. Smith, Morgan Vanmeter, 
Moses Gregg, John Coffee, John Roads, 
John Shield, Thomas M. Sanders, Jona- 
than Boyd, Bourter Sumner, Robert 
Beaty and Francis Shinn. Levi War- 
ner was elected Coroner over William 
. C. “Scott, Aaron Hunt, William Barnett, 
John Matthews, Henry Wilson, William 
Hill, Charley Hughey, Frederick Miller, 
Henry Baldwin, George Matthews and 
Joel Havens. 

At the day of which we speak, the in- 
dependent system of voting was well es- 
tablished in Highland. Each citizen 
could, without fear of censure, make his 
own ticket to suit himself and vote it 
free from the interference of partizan 
leaders, for the simple reason that 
the country was then fortunately bless- 
ed with the total absence of political 
parties, and of course, demagogues. The 
best men were generally voted for, and 



most frequently without announcing 
themselves candidates, and when they 
were elected, endeavored rather to ben- 
efit the public by a faithful and honest 
discharge of their duties, than to put 
money into their own pockets from the 
public purse. 

In the newly erected township of 
Union there were thirty-four votes cast 
at this election, which was held at the 
house of ^homas Ratcliff. The names 
of these voters are, Abraham Clevenger, 
John Seamen, William Clevenger, Wil- 
liam Stewart, John Achor, Samuel Clev- 
enger, James Marks, Absalom Van- 
meter, Alexander Gillespy, Elisha Noble, 
Mathew Small, Joseph McKibben, 
James McFarland, William Noble, sr., 
John McKibben, sr., Joseph Vanmeter, 
Abraham Vanmeter, Morgan Vanmeter, 
Samuel McCulloch, Isaac Vanmeter, 
John McKibben, jr., Israel Nordyke, 
James Rush, Jacob Bowers, Micajah 
Nordyke, Charles Harris, Jesse F. Roys- 
don, John Ellis, Daniel Nordyke, John 
Miller, John Shockley, Benjamin Shock- 
ley, and Hiram Nordyke. The judges 
of this election in Union were Joseph 
Vanmeter, William Noble and Abraham 
Vanmeter. The clerks were Jesse F. 
Roysdon and Abraham Vanmeter. 

In Richland township the number of 
votes at this election was only sixteen. 
The judges were Jesse Hughs, Daniel 
Dillon and James Mills, and the clerks 
were William Venard and William 
Powell. 

Liberty township gave one hundred 
and thirty-nine votes. Evan Chaney,' 
Ezekiel Kelley and William Keys were 
the judges, and John Jones and Jacob 
Hare, clerks. 

Brushcreek gave thirty-eight votes, 
and the judges were Thomas Dick, Isaac 
Stockwell and Martin Countryman. 
The clerks were Bigger Head and Sam- 
uel Reedo. 

Paint gave sixty-one votes this fall 
and the judges were William Lucas, 
Zur Combs and Jesse Baldwin, and 
Richard Barrett and Moses Tomlinson 
clerks. 

New Market gave eighty-seven votes 
and James Morrow, Philip Wilkins 
and William Boatman were the judges 
and John Davidson and Eli Berryman 
clerks. 

Fairfield township gave ninety-three 
votes and * Jonathan Barrett, Phineas 
Hunt and Moses Wilson were Judges 
and Aaron J. Hunt and Isaac McPher- 
son clerks. 

On the 23d day of October of this year 
the Board of Commissioners met at Bar- 
nett’s tavern in Hillsboro : Present, 



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184 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 

Morgan Vanmeter, Enoch B. Smith and on to a thousand pounds, cast perfectly 
George Richards. plain in six pieces. Very huge wood 

At this term Walter Craig was ap- could be put into it and a great quantity, 
pointed clerk pro. tem. of the Board of comparitively sneaking of it, and when 
Commissioners. Augustus Richards, it once became neated it would remain 
Sheriff of the county, was ordered to be so for hours. This stove was manufac- 
paid sixteen dollars for “executing cor- tured at some furnace in Pennsylvania 
poral punishment on Nicholas Watters and transported on a keel boat to Man- 
and Levin Wright. Chester, thence in a wagon to Hillsboro. 

The first jailor of the county was John When it arrived it was a subject of much 
Shields. He did not, however, live interest and comment, being the first 
under the same roof with the prisoners stove in the place and doubtless in the 
as has been the privilege of .that officer county. 

for many years in this county ; the jail, At this session of the Commissioners 
at the time of which we. speak, being the road at present known as the Mar- 
merely a prison of one room disconnect- shall road to Hillsboro was ordered to 
ed from all other buildings. Shields be viewed and surveyed under the title 
acted as jailor two or three years, and of a road from Thojnas Dick’s to Hills- 
very frequently — indeed constantly boro. 

when there were prisoners in jail — had At the December session of the Com- 

to guard it at night and often through missioners, (1809) it was agreed to erect 
the day. Two orders were made by the a new jail, the old log one having been 
Commissioners at this term for jail found totally insufficient both in con- 
guarding, the first to John Shields for venience and strength. It was also 
twenty-one nights and fourteen days at agreed at the same tune that the work 
twenty-five cents per day and fifty cents should be sold at public outcry to the 
per night— fourteen dollars— and the lowest bidder, and thdt the sale should 
other to Thomas Pye for seventeen dol- be advertised for the 18th day of Janu- 
lars and fifty cents for twenty-eight ary, 1810. This sale was ordered to be 
nights and fourteen days guarding at advertised three weeks in the Scioto 
the same rates. Gazette . It is to be presumed from this 

In the fall, (1809) Enoch B. Smith order, that this paper had attained to a 
furnished the jail with a stove, for which considerable circulation in Highland at 
the Commissioners allowed him sixty this date, or it may have been the 
dollars. Such a stove at this day would object, as it was undoubtedly the policy 
be a curiosity, indeed it was a curiosity of the Board, to bring the mechanics of 
in Hillsboro eighty years ago. It was Chillicothe into competition with those 
an immense mass of iron weighing well of Hillsboro in bidding for the job. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

TIIE WHISKY ROAD, AND A DESCRIPTION OF TIIB MANNER IN WHICH IT WAS 
MADE— NEW SETTLERS ABOUT SUGARTREE RIDGE— CONTRACTS GIVEN FOR 
TIIE ERECTION OF A JAIL— A GOOD BEAR STORY— THE FIRST CASE OF IM- 



PRISONMENT FOR DEBT— CONCORD 



In the spring of 1809 Edward Earls 
emigrated with his family from Virginia, 
and settled about one and a quarter 
miles south of what is now known as 
Sugartree Ridge in Highland county, on 
the farm afterward owned by Mr. Stacey 
Storer, on the road leading from Hills* 
boro to Maysville. During the same 
spring Jeremiah Grant settled about half 
a mile south of Earl’s. With the excep- 
tion of John Emery, who settled near 
Samuel Hindman about 1801, these two 



TOWNSHIP LAID OFF AND NAMED. 

families were the first settlers within 
the present limits of Concord township. 
In July of this year Samuel Whitley 
with his family emigrated from Rock- 
bridge county, Virginia, and settled on 
the farm afterward owned by George 
Dederick, on the road known as the 
“Whisky Road,” where he lived many 
years a much respected neighbor and 
worthy citizen. 

The Whisky road is worthy of further 
mention entirely on account of its name. 



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A HISTORY 01 HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 186 



4*her0 is more than one story as to the 
ori^h of this. That now given, is* per- 
haps, as worthy of credit as any, and it 
happens just now to be the only authen- 
ticated history of It in our possession. 
It is furnished by an old resident of 
much intelligence and high standing, 
not only in Concord township, but 
throughout the county, and is therefore 
worthy of confidence. This road was 
open as early as 1809, and leads from 
New Market to West Union and the old 
Marble Furnace. No official authority 
was obtained prior to the location of it. 
The spontaneous act of the people orig- 
inated it from the survey to tlte comple- 
tion, and they chose at the time the 
name above given for it, for the follow- 
ing reasons : Whisky was the great in- 
ducement for. making the road, and the 
labor of cutting it being free and vol- 
untary, a barrel of that much prized 
commodity was the first article of trade 
carried on it. 

The small log cabin distilleries in the 
vicinity of New Market in 1809 were 
found totally inadequate to the demands 
of the people, and as a natural conse- 
quence, they cast about for a more 
abundant and satisfactory supply of that 
indispensable fluid. Early in the pro- 
gress of this inquiry it was ascertained 
that Hemphill, an old Virginia Dutch- 
man of considerable wealth for that day, 
had established a pretty extensive man- 
ufactory of whisky, in Adams county, a 
few miles east of the present town of 
Winchester, and the fame of his whisky 
promised a much better article than 
Highland then produced. It was believ- 
ed that his distillation was equal, if 
hot superior, to the celebrated Mononga- 
hela. so early and so long a favorite in. 
southern Ohio. The men of New Mark- 
et in view of this' determined to supply 
themselves with his whisky. To do so, 
however, much hard labor had to be 
undergone mid many obstacles removed. 
But what will not thirsty mortality en- 
dure when the hope of drink, and good 
drink in satisfying abundance, is pre- 
sented! The hardy and droutny New 
Marketers, after brief deliberation, de- 
termined to, not only penetrate the 
thick and continuous forest of fifteen 
miles, which shut them out from the 
promised joys of Hemphill’s still-house, 
out actually open a thoroughfare be- 
tween the ancient capital of Highland 
and that attractive spot. It was a bold, 
though not hazardous undertaking, ana 
they set out for a New Year’s frolic the 
last day of December, 1809, from their 
rendezvous at Barrere’s tavern, in a 
most imposing procession. First was G. 
W. Barrere, Esq., acting Justice of the 



Peace for New • Market township, and 
Senator for the counties of Highland 
and Ross, with his compass and jacob 
staff in had. No chain was needed and 
the surveying corps was completed by 
the presence of one marker to “blaze’’ 
the route after the surveyor. Next 
came some thirty men with axes on 
their shoulders, and last a “slide,” (two 
whiteoak poles, three inches thick at 
the butt* lower side sloped to run or 
slide on the ground, and inch pins two 
feet long in the upper side of each, three 
feet from the lower end-wholes bored in 
the upper end through which “tugs” 
were passed by which this primitive 
vehicle was fastened to the names on 
the horse, which was placed between 
the poles as in shafts — this is the slide 
of fifty years ago) on which, supported 
by the two pins, was a full barrel of 
Jacob Medzker’s newest whisky, tapped 
and ready for use. Two or three tin 
cups attached to each other by a string, 
dangled from one of the pins, and a side 
of bacon from the other. A boy be- 
strode the horse, under whom was a 
tow-linen bag partly filled with com 
dodgers. Some of the party carried, in 
addition to their axes, rifles and shot 
pouches. To complete the train a large 
number of dogs followed, and a few of 
the most enterprising and ventursome 
of the village boys hovered in the rear 
and ran along the sides of the coterie, 
but were wisely driven back at the edge 
of the town. All the population, who 
remained at home, were out to witness 
the departure of the road cutting party. 

When they struck the wbods on the 
south-east of the town a halt was called 
and the compass set and the course 
fixed with care, then the supercargo of 
the slide, Mike Moore, was called to his 
post. Whisky was freely drawn by him 
and passed round the company in the 
tin cups. After thus refreshing them- 
selves the coftipany proceeded with much 
vigor and determination of purpose, to 
strike the first saplings on the route to 
the still house # They wrought vigorous- 
ly most of the day, a large portion of 
the party keeping pretty passably sober, 
though it is but just to say that some 
zealous laborers being, perhaps more 
constitutionally thirsty than others, fell 
by the way, and were thus deprived of 
the glory of seeing the end of the great 
work. The party camped out that night 
on Buckrun. Some of the hunters man- 
aged to kill some game, which, with the 
bacon and corn bread, furnished a sup- 
ply for supper. Mike Moore happened 
to be a fiddler and had fortunately 
taken the precaution to sling his instru- 
ment on his back. He gave them music 



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m A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



at the camp fire to their heart’s content, 
and all who could; danced till a late 
hour. In the morning they were up by 
times. The whisky barrel, on examin- 
ation, was unfortunately found almost 
empty — merely enough for “bitters” all 
round. This discovery greatly acceler- 
ated the progress of the work and by 
eleven o’clock the company, slide, dogs, 
and all, reached the haven of their 
hopes. A “good dinner” all round was 
the first thing in order. Next they 
purchased a barrel of HemphiU’s best, 
put it on the slide and started, home. 
On the return, route more speed was 
made, and, in view of the wonderful 
shrinkage of the fluid on the slide the 
the previous day, more stringent regu- 
lations were adopted, by which all 
hands succeeded in reaching New 
Market before bed time, with consider- 
ably more than half a barrel of whisky 
—all safe and sound, on the slide. Thus 
was opened the road, now not much 
used it is true, N for the still house has 
long since gone the way of all things 
human, and the place of its interesting 
whereabouts is known only to the aged, 
but which is known by no other name 
than that which we have given, though 
it has by no means been used for exclu- 
sive whisky purposes. 1 1 passes through 
an intelligent, refined and Christian 
community, who are quite as ambitious 
of a reputation for temperance, and as 
loud in the denunciations of whisky as 
the most zealous, noisy and short-sight- 
ed advocates of reform, in. the favorite 
and exclusive subject of the quenching 
of thirst, apparently peculiar to frail 
man the world over. The road was, 
however, too thoroughly baptised in 
whisky at its opening, ever to lose the 
name, inappropriate as it may now 
seem to the people of the vicinity who 
pass soberly over it. 

No further accessions to the Sugartree 
Ridge neighborhood took <place till the 
summer and fall of 1809, when James 
Rotroff, Henry Nace and St. Clair Ross 
settled immediately on and near the 
Ridge, which was early n&ned from the 
beautiful and abundant growth of the 
Sugartree. Most of these early orna- 
ments of that locality have been de- 
stroyed, a few, however, yet remain to 
speak, like the cedars of Lebanon, of the 
grandeur of other days, when their 
fallen companions were standing by 
their sides, thus rendering complete 
one of the most beautiful forests in 
Ohio. 

In regular succession, during the two 
or three following years, the Sugartree 
Ridge settlement was enlarged by the 
arrival of Oliver Ross and Robert Hus- 



ton, from New Market— the Ridge then 
being a part of New Market township. 

In September, 1809, the Highland 
Battalion muster was at the farm nf 
Jesse Lucas in Paint township. Noth- 
ing of unusual interest occurred at this 
exercise of the military of the county. 
Major Franklin still held the com- 
mand, and deported himself on this oc- 
casion with his accustomed display and 
dignity. Of course the novelty of this 
annual meeting of the six companies of 
the legally organized militia, had not in 
the least abated since the last grand 
parade at Billy Hill’s, and a larger 
number of spectators, chiefly boys, were 
early on the ground. Gingerbread, 
whisky and watermelons were present 
in considerable' abundance and, alto- 
gether, the exercise and amusements of 
the day went off pretty satisfactorily, 
with the usual* number of foot-races, 
fights, &c. 

On the first Monday in January, 1810, 
the Board of Commissioners for the 
county met at the house of Levi War- 
mer, comer of Beech, and High streets, 
and issued orders tp sundry citizens to 
the amount of some fifty dollars for 
wolf scalps. They also transacted such 
other business of an ordinary character 
as was necessary, and after appointing 
Walter Craig their permanent clerk, 
adjourned on the third day till the 17th 
day of the month. This appointment 
of a permanent clerk outside of the 
Board, was the first step towards es- 
tablishing the office of County Auditor 
in Highland. 

The adjourned meeting of the Com- 
missioners was chiefly for the purpose 
of selling out the work of the.new jail, 
and on the next day in pursuance of 
their former order, the work was cried 
off. Gus Richards was the auctioneer, 
for which he was ordered to be paid 
three dollars. Caleb Reynolds bid off 
the mason work of the jail andjailor’s 
house at $139.50, and John Wily, of 
Chillicothe, took the carpenter work of 
the same at $475. Josepn Dryden and 
William Barnett took the contract for 
the blacksmith work at five and three- 
fourth cents per pound. George Rich- 
ards was engaged to furnish the neces- 
sary amount of iron for the work for 
which $100 were ordered to him, after 
which the Board adjourned to the 27th 
of February, when they met and issued 
more orders for wolf scalps and trans- 
acted some other ordinary business, 
when they adjourned to the first Mon- 
day of March. 

At this session the location of the 
new. jail was settled as follows, to-wit: 
“Twelve poles from the east side of the 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 187 

public ground to the west side of the large set of stairs, to ascend the upper 
jail at right-angles with Main street on rooms of both buildings. At each end 
a line with the Court House.” This of this passage there shall be a grated 
arrangement placed the old jail almost window. It is understood that the 
due west <TE the old Court House, and jailor’s rooms are to be of frame work, 
the north side a few feet south of the of good sound oak, and the roof to be 
front of the present jail, the whole of shingled with joint shingles, of good 
the building lying to the east of it. sound oak timber. There shall be a 
The jail, it was determined, should door in the front of the jailor’s room, 
be built of stone, this being considered and another to enter the passage next 
the most durable material for a build- the jail, said room to be divided into 
ingof that kind, aS well as the most two equal parts by a partition of plank, 
difficult to break. The flooring shail be of sound oak 

As the whole structure disappeared plank one and a quarter inches thick, 
upwards of forty years ago, it may well tongued and grooved. A stack ot' 
be interesting to some to know the ex- chimneys of stone, with two tire places 
act jplan fixed by the Commissioners, below, three feet in the back, arched 
The jail— the stone part— was “thirty and made complete.’’ 
feet by eighteen, wall two feet in the This work was contracted to be fully 

? ;round and six inches above the sur- completed by the first day ot January, 
ace of the earth under the floor. The 1811, and each contractor was required 
lower story, between the floors, to be to give bond and good security, to the 
eight feet high and the wall to be three satisfaction of the Commissioners, for 
feet thick. To be divided into two the faithful performance of his con- 
rooms, one room tq be twelve feet by tract. 

thirteen in the clear, for the confine- In front of the jailor’s part of this 
ment of criminals; the other is design- house was a large porch of no great 
ed for the use of a . dungeon. The up- pretensions, and, on the whole, the 
per story to be seven feet high, between building, when completed, was a most 
the floors, the outside walls to be two clumsy and forbidding affair, 
feet thick, divided into two rooms, in It is a little singular, taking into 
the same manner as the lower story, view the care with which the Commis- 
foi; the reception of debtors of each sex, sioners seem to have had this building 
the whole to be built in the most ap- constructed, that it only stood about 
proved manner, with good ston6,laidin twenty-six years, during most of which 
a suitable quantity ot sand and lime, time it was not worthy the name of 
duly proportioned fot strength and prison, for it would hold no one who 
utility. Under the foundation of the chose to make the effort to get out; and 
jail, it shall be paved with rock six the frame part, long before it was tom 
inches deep. There shall be provided do\vn, was almost untenable. Public 
by the undertaker # of the carpenter buildings, while they generally cost 
work, two sets of square timbers, eight double as much as private houses, do 
inches by four, to be laid in the walls not in this county, stand on the aver- 
of each lower room, for the conveni- age half as long. This is well attested 
ence of lining the two rooms. The in the town of Hillsboro, 
three floors of the jail shall be laid with The spring term of the Court of 
good sound oak timbers, not less than Common Pleas for 1810 was corn- 
twelve inches deep. These timbers to menced at Barnet’s tavern in Hillsboro 
be well squared or he wed, and be laid on the 26th day of February. The 
in the wall, not less than six inches at President Judge, Belt, was not on the 
each end. The partition wall of the Bench during this term, which lasted, 
upper story, of good Sound two inch five days, without recording anything 
oak plank, and the partition wall of the of particular interest at this day. Levi 
lower story to be of equal thickness Warner was licensed to keep tavern in 
with outside walls. There shall be one Hillsboro in the house formerly occu- 
door to each lower room, with iron pied by Barnet, which was then the 
grates two feet, four inches wide and principal hotel in the place, and stood 
five feet high, and a door to each upper as it will be rememberedby the reader 
room of the same dimensions, to be of on Beech street, west of 1 High, on the 
wood well lined wit^ iron. south side about the middle of the 

“There shall be a jailor’s house attach- square, 
ed to the prison, twenty feet by thirty. At this term the Court examined the 
and the same height of the jail, so as to accounts of George Richards; Director 
be contained under one roof. An entry of the town of Hillsboro, and found his 
of five feet in the ‘clear, taken off the receipts on the sale of lots to be three 
jailor’s rooms tor the convenience of a thousand and forty-five dollars and 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO. 



eighty-two cents. The Court allowed 
him three dollars per day for his ser- 
vices, and authorized him to sell on the 
same credits as the first sale, a reserved 
lot, No. 118, and to advertise it in the 
county of Highland only, the sale to 
take place on the, first day of the 
next summer term of Court. Court 
then adjourned without day. 

The oldest brick dwelling, and doubt- 
less the first built in the county, was that 
half a mile east of Clear Creek on the 
Chillicothe pike. It was erected by 
Judge Richard Evans in 1810, the brick 
having been made on the ground the 
preceding year. Richard Lucas was 
the contractor for the brick work and 
was assisted in laying them by Samuel 
and Robert Warson, both of whym had 
recently come from Fleming county, 
Kentucky, and settled in Hillsboro, ana 
became industrious and useful citizens. 
Daniel Weir, recently from Virginia, 
contracted for the carpenter work, in 
which he was assisted by David Reece. 
This building was near three years in 
completion. 

The same year Foster Levetton built 
a two story brick house, on the present 
Washington road, seven miles north of 
Hillsboro. We have no information as 
to the names of the workmen on this 
building. 

In the fall of 1809, as Samuel Jackson 
was passing along a trace down the 
banks of Sunfish Creek, about three 
miles east of Sinking Springs, he saw a 
large bear crossing the path before 
him. The bear, not seeing him, went 
into a hole in the rocks while yet in 
sight near the creek. Jackson deter- 
mined to have him out but knew that 
he could not effect his purpose alone. 
He therefore went to the nearest cabin, 
which happened to be John Lowman’s, 
for assistance, who immediately re- 
turned with him to the den of the bear. 
They took a chunk of fire with them. 
When they reached the place they first 
filled the hole with drv branches, which 
they set on fire. After this they sta- 
tioned themselves thirty or forty yards 
distant, rifles in hand. The smoke 
soon entered the hole and forced bruin 
out As he emerged Jackson fired and 
wqunded him. The bear then retreat- 
ed to anothor hole close to the first. 
The entrance of this was just large 
enough for him to pass through, but 
increased in size further in. The hunt- 
ers again filled the mouth with leaves 
and fired them. But after waiting for 
upwards of an hour for the re-appear- 
ance of the bear, and neither seeing 
nor hearing him, they concluded to go 
home and watt, till evening. When 



evening came they returned to the den 
or cave in the rocks, and after a careful 
examination they satisfied themselves 
that bruin was still there in defiance of 
the smoke. So Jackson pioposed to 
take a torch and crawl into the hole 
and force him out, for they were deter- 
mined to have him at all hazards. He 
accordingly prepared himself and man- 
aged by a considerable effort to force 
himself in. He soon succeeded by the 
help of his torch in finding the bear, 
which, contrary to his expectations, was 
cmite dead from his shot. On making 
this discovery and satisfying himself 
that there was no mistake, ne called 
out to Lowman at the mouth of the 
hole to come and assist him in dragging 
out the carcass. Lowman crept in and 
managed to get hold of the body, and 

E ulled out while Jackson pushed. The 
ear was a very large one, and in that 
contracted place was quite difficult to 
manage. The mouth of the cave being 
small, the great difficulty was, however, 
to get him through it. Indeed, the 
thing seemed impossible, although the 
animal had entered with apparent ease 
while alive. After many efforts it 
finally stuck fast, and became wedged 
so tight that they could not move it 
either way. The efforts of Lowman at 
the entrance of the hole had stirred up 
the remains of the leaves fired in the 
early part of the day, and the fire not 
being extinguished, a dense smoke soon 
penetrated the cave, notwithstanding 
the fact that the bear was fast in the 
mouth. Jackson being on the inside 
was like to suffocate, and Lowman be- 
ing partly in was in little better condi- 
tion. In this alarming state of affairs 
while Jackson was beggingand pray- 
ing with the little breath he had yet 
remaining, Lowman was making al- 
most superhuman efforts to rescue nim. 
By thrusting his hands between the 
bear and the rocks, he made a slight 
opening. Then laying himself on 
his back, with both feet against 
the rocks, he took a long and steady 
pull for life, and finally, to the great 
joy of his friend inside, brought but 
the bear, and saved him from suffoca- 
tion. Mr. Lowman above named was 
long a most worthy citizen of the vi- 
cinity of Hillsboro. 

At the February term of the Court 
of Common Pleas 1810', James Daniel 
was appointed Prosecuting Attorney 
for the county of Highland. He was 
the first lawyer located in the town of 
Hillsboro. He did not, however, de- 
vote himself to his profession for any 
great length of time -and held the office 
of Prosecutor qnly a few months. 



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A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY ; OHIO . 



On. the 30th day of June, 1810, the 
Associate Judges held a special Court 
in the new Court House in Hillsboro, 
which was the first use made of it for 
the purpose for which it was erected. 

It was to have been conpleted some 
months earlier, but the contractors 
failed, and from the time at which they 
had obligated themselves to have it 
ready, to the day it was first used, the 
Commissioners charged them with the 
cost of rooms for the use of the Court 
and juries. 

As is frequently the case in public 
buildings as well as private, there was 
considerable difficulty in this case with 
the contractors, Shields and Pye. They, 
in addition to their failure to get the 
work done in time, charged upwards of 
a thousand dollars for extra work. 
Which the Commissioners refused to 
pay. An arbitration was then agreed 
upon by the parties, and workmen call- 
ed upon to examine and value all the 
extra work about the building. Pleas- 
ant Arthur, John Jones and Anthony 
Franklin were called upon for this 
purpose. They were engaged seven 
days in the investigation, and ordered 
to be paid fifteen dollars each for their 
services.. By the award of arbitrators, 
the county had to pay six hundred and 
ninety-seven dollars and seventy-nine 
cents for extra work, upon, which the 
Commissioners ih behalf of the county, 
received the building from the contract- 
ors and issued orders for the payment 
of the money then due. This was not, 
however, until the 11th of January, 
1811— six months'after the county had 
commenced using the house for Court 
purposes. 

The Lebanon road was surveyed and 
opened during 1811, and the bound- 
aries of New Market and Union town- 
ships changed, the first, “from Andrew 
Kessinger’s, with the new road from 
Morgan Vanmeter’s, as far as the An- 
derson State road, thence with said road 
westerly to the boundary line of the 
county as formerly”— the line of Union 
township to “be continued from where 
the old Mad River road crosses Ander- 
son’s State road, thence with said road 
easterly, so far as the intersection of the 
New Market road from Morgan Vanme- 
ter’s the new way, thence a northeaster- 
ly direction to strike Joshua Hussev’s 
as formerly.” 

A county road was this yearop» n d 
from New Market to Lytle’s salt vorks. 

At the June session of the Commis- 
sioners, '1810, John Richards wan re- 
elected Treasurer for Highland an I en- 
tered into bond with John Smith, Allen 
Trimble and G. W. Barrere, securities. 



The Treasurers at that day were cllosen 
for the people of the county by the 
Board of Commissioners. This was au- 
thorized by an act passed January 15tb, 
1810, requiring the Commissioners of 
each county in the State to elect annual* 
ly on the first Monday of June a County 
Treasurer. The per cent, (four) allowed 
the Treasurer for the preceding year 
amounted to one hundred and forty-six 
dollars and thirty-six cents. 

At this session of the Board the jailor, 
John Shields, was ordered to be paid 
sixteen dollars for keeping William 
Simpson, a debtor, in jail thirty-two 
days.* This is the first case of imprison- 
ment for debt, w F hich appears on the 
records of the county. 

On the 10th of June, 1810, the Com- 
missioners ordered “that there be a 
township struck off from the northeast 
corner of the county of Highland, by the 
name of Madison, beginning at the 
mouth of Rattlesnake fork of Paint 
Creek, thence up the same to the line of 
Highland county, thence with said line 
east to Paint Creek, thence with the 
meanders of Paint Creek to the begin- 
ing.” 

During this year tlio township of 
Richland disappeared from the county 
of Highland, being absorbed in the 
county of Clinton, which was establish- 
ed during the spring. Fayette county 
was also established at the same time, a 
large portion of which was taken from 
Highland. 

The summer term of the Court of 
Common Pleas for Highland was held 
in the Court House at Hillsboro, and 
commenced on the 7th day of August, 
1810, present, Hon. John Thompson, 
President, Richard Evans, John David- 
son and Jonathan Berryman, Associates. 
Moses Patterson was foreman of the 
Grand Jury. The Court remained in 
session three days, but the record of 
their proceedings discloses nothing of 
interest at this day, except, perhaps, 
that indictments were found against 
William Hill, Jonathan Boyd, G. W. 
Barrere, George Richards and Allen 
Trimble, all for assault and battery. 

This year B. H. Johnson was licensed 
to retail merchandise in the town of 
Hillsboro, also Joshua Woodrow & Son. 

The fall term was held at the same 
place on the 27th day of November, 
present, the same judges as at the last 
term. 

At this term the Rev. Nicholas Pet- 
tinger was licensed to solemnize the rites 
of matrimony, John Smith to retail 
merchandise in the town of Hillsboro 
and James D. Scott to keep a tavern. 

The third session of the Supreme 



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190 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO. 



Court for the county x of Highland was 
held at the Court House in Hillsboro on 
the 12th day of October, 1810, by J udges 
William W. Irvin and Ethan Allen 
Brown. No business of interest at this 
day was done, and the Court adjourned 
at the close ol the first day. 

The annual election was held on the 
9th day of October this year, (1810). 
Thomas Worthington and Return Meigs 
were the candidates voted for for Gov- 
ernor. The majority in Highland voted 
for Worthington, but Meigs was the 
successful candidate throughout the 
•State. Jeremiah Morrow was re-elected 
to Congress without opposition. Sam- 
uel Evans was elected Senator, and Sam- 
uel Reese, Representative, and Jesse 
Baldwin, Commissioner. 

In the new township of Madison, 
which had recently organized by the 
election of the prescribed township offi- 
cers, the October election for 1810 was 
held at Greenfield. There were forty- 
seven votes polled by the following citi- 
zens: Samuel Strain, Joseph Hender- 
son, James Watts, Wilson Stewart, 
James Thornton, Joseph Hill, Lewis 
Lutrel, Fredrick Grants, Matthew L. 
Kilgore, William Biswell, Jacob Jones, 
Matthew Brown, Francis Nott, Joseph 
Bell, George Gray, James Currev, 
Thomas Rogers, Josiah Bell, James 
Strain, James Rogers, David Dutton, 
James Kingrey, Demsy Caps, Charles 
Hughey, William Bacon, Henrv Brown, 
Seph. Fisher, Samuel Hatton, John Kil- 
bourn, Jeptha Johnson, James Fisher, 
Charles Brown, Samuel Gibson, David 
Strain, William McMillen, Samuel Kin- 
grey, Samuel Holladay, John Fisher, 
Jacob Kingrey, Cornelius Hill, George 
Sanderson, Alexander Morrow, jr., Alex- 
ander Morrow, George Mitchell, John 
Coffey, John R. Strain and John Sellers. 
The judges of the election were Samuel 
Strain, Wilson Stewart and Matthew- L. 
Kilgore, and the clerks were Joseph 
Henderson and John R, Strain. John 
Coffey was the first Justice of the Peace, 
in this township, but we can not name 
the constables. 

During the latter part of the year 18J0 
the second post office in the county was 
established at Greenfield, and Noble 
Crawford appointed postmaster. This 
supplied the citizens with a w eekly mail 
which was packed on horseback from 
Chillicothe westward over the College 
township road. Crawford held the 
office several years. 

In the spring of 1811 John Fisher came 
from Pennsylvania and settled in Hills- 
boro. He was a potter to trade and hav- 
ing purchased the pottery of Iliff, com- 



menced business. Amariah Gossett 
worked with him as a partner. 

That year was one of remarkable 
scarcity. All kinds of provisions were 
greatly needed, particularly by the in- 
habitants of towns. Breadstuff was, 
however, the most difficult to obtain. 
Fisher, having waited in vain for sup- 

lies to come to market, determined to 

avc bread if grain could be found in 
the county, so he mounted his horse and 
started. He went through the Clear 
Creek settlement from end to end, but 
could find no one who would sell him, 
corn or frheat. From there he went to 
Fall Creek and after several days search 
he chanced upon a Quaker, whose name 
is not remembered, who confessed to 
having a few bushels of wheat more 
than he absolutely needed. Fisher told 
him he must have some— told the owner 
the time and effort he had bestowed in 
thg pursuit of bread for his family, w r ho 
were waiting with the ereatest anxiety, 
almost starved, the result of his expedi- 
tion, and never doubting that a heavy 
price tendered in coin would so far arouse 
the Quaker’s cupidity as to enable him 
to return home with a small supply. 
He offered seventy-five cents per bushel 
for six bushels, but met a prompt re- 
fusal. Fisher then bid a dollar, but 
again met an emphatic no. Again he 
bid a dollar and twenty-five cents, which 
was at that day four times the price of 
wheat, but was still refused. Vexed at 
this apparent determination on the part 
of the owner to take a mean advantage 
of his necessity, he said what will you 
take ? I must have it and you well 
know it. Well, responded the Quaker, 
if thee must have it I will charge thee 
fifty cents a bushel and no more. Fish- 
er closed the bargain at once and re- 
turned rejoicing to his family, took a 
small w r agon and brought home the 
wheat, which greatly cheered the hearts 
of the two families, his own and Gos- 
sett’s, who, whilst they ate the sweet 
bread blessed the good Quaker. We re- 
gret exceedingly bur inability to get the 
name of this true practical Christian, for 
he deserves to be remembered and pre- 
sented in bright contrast to shame the 
unchristian grasping of the men of this 
day. 

The first session of the Board of 
County Commissioners of Highland for 
1811 w r as held at the Court House in 
Hillsboro on the 7th of January, present, 
Jesse Baldwin, Morgan Vanmeter and 
Enoch B. Smith. Nothing of special 
interest was done at this session, which 
lasted three days. The Commissioners 
adjourned to meet on the 5th day of 
February following. 



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191 



A HISTORY OP HIGHLAND COUNTY , OHIO. 



At this session it was “ordered that 
the Sheriff of the county take charge of 
the Court House and keep it in such or- 
der as will make it convenient for the 
reception of the Court, See . 11 It was 
further “ordered that the' records of the 
Commissioners be deposited at Mr. 
Enos Baldwin’s, allowing no person to 
have access to them, the Commissioners, 
their Clerk and himself excepted. 

Commissioners adjourned to the first 
Monday of March next. 

At the March meeting a road was or- 
dered to be opened from the “intersec- 
tion of the new road toward limestone, 
with the road from New Market toward 
Chillicothe from said intersection by 
Jesse Baldwin’s mill to the road from 
Rogers’ Ford to Hillsboro. This is the 
present road passing Boyd’s mill, from 
the south northeast. Baldwin’s mill 
was built at an early day, about 1807 or 
1808, and stood on the branch which 
empties into the Rocky Fork near where 
the mill now stands. It, like all the 
early mills, was a small log cabin affair 
of the tomahawk character of machinery. 
Afterwards he built a large one on or 
near the site of Boyd’s, as at present 
known. 

A county road was also ordered at this 
session to be opened from Charles 
Cliftbn’s, in Fairfield to wnship, to inter- 
seetthe road from thfiJeUs of Paint to 
William Lupton’s. 

On the 4th day of March, 1811, the 
Board of Commissioners “ordered that a 
township be struck off the south side of 
New Market township, running east and 
west, so as to include the residence of 
Lewis Gibler in the original township, 
and that the new township so ordered to 
be set off be known by the name of Con- 
cord.” 

On the third Monday of April follow- 
ing, the proper surveys having been 
made ana writs of election sent out to 
the inhabitants, the first election wa$ 
held in the new township at the house 
of Robert Huston for township officers. 
This being a township election the 
names of the voters are not filed with the 
election returns of the county, and can 
not, therefore, be given. The officers of 
this election were Samuel Whitley, Na- 
thaniel Campbell and Jonas Rotroff, 
Judges, and Benjamin Massie, Clerk. 
About thirty votes were given, and 
when they were counted out it appeared 
that Jonas Rotroff, William Rea and 
Thomas Petijohn were elected Trustees, 
and Oliver Ross Clerk. Isaiah Ross and 
John Ross were elected Justices of the 
Peace, Samuel Nichols and William Mil- 
ler, Constables, and Benjamin Massie 
Lister. 



On the 26th day of March. 1811, the 
spring term of the Court of Common 
Pleas for Highland county commenced. 
Present, the Hon. John Thompson, 
President, and Richard Evans, John 
Davidson and Jonathan Berryman, As- 
sociates. 

Among the first business of this term 
appears the order licensing Forster Lev- 
erton to keep tavern in his new brick 
house. 

Thomas Morrice, Esq., was appointed 
prosecutor for Highland county for the 
present term. This is the first appear- 
ance of Mr. Mbrrice in Highland in his 
professional character. He was then a 
young man, just setting out in his career 
as a lawyer, in which he early distin- 
guished himself. He attended the 
Courts in this county regularly for many 
years afterwards and stood among the 
first of the many able lawyers and elo- 
quent advocates who then figured at our 
Courts. 

Ai; this term James Daniels was li- 
censed to keep • a tavern in Hillsboro. 
This made the third tavern in the town. 
Knox disappeared from the records as 
an inn keeper sometime ago and it is 
presumable that he did not pursue that 
vocation in the county at this date. 

At* this term Jonas Simmons obtained 
license to keep tavern at his dwelling 
house in the town of Greenfield. 

. At a special session of the Common 
Pleas Court held on Saturday, the first 
day of June, 1811,, it appearing that the 
office of Coroner had become vacant, the 
Sheriff of the county was ordered to no- 
tify the voters of the county of the fact 
and proclaim an election on the 15th in- 
stant for the purpose of filling the office. 
There are no poll books of this election 
on file and we are, therefore, unable to 
say who was the fortunate man at this 
important election. 

The fathers of the county, though by 
no means office-seekers were most vigil- 
ant in the discharge of their duties. Up 
to the date of which we speak there is 
no record showing that the Coroner had 
ever been called upon in a single in- 
stance for official service in Highland. 
Yet, promptly on the appearance of a va- 
cancy in this office, an election is called 
throughout the county to supply the de- 
mands of the law. 

The summer term of the Highland 
Common Pleas for 1811, commenced on 
the 26th day ot August, present, the 
same Judges as at the last term. 

Among the first business of the term 
was the licensing of John Kirkpatrick, of 
Clear Creek, “a minister of the gospel in 
the Church of Christ,” to solemnize the 
rites of matrimony. We are in posses- 



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192 A HISTORY OF HIGHLAND COUNTY . OHIO . 



sion of no Other information in regard to 
tbe Rev. Mr. Kirkpatrick. The Court 
adjourned after ;a session of four days, 
without, however, leaving anything on 
their record of particular interest at thiB 
day. 

The* fall term of the Common Pleas. 
Court for the county was held by the 
same Judges on the 26th day of Novem- 
ber of thin year. A short term closed 
the business, the records of which showB 
nothing of interest. 

A term of the Supreme Court was held 
at Hillsboro by William W. Irwin and 
Ethan Allen Brown, Judges, on the 6th 
day of August, 1811, and the ninth year 
of the State of Ohio as it is carefully 
noted on the record. After disposing of 
two appeal cases the Court adjourned 
the same day. 

The October election this year took 
place on the 8th day of that month. 
The offices to be filled were Representa- 
tive, Sheriff, Commissioner and Coroner. 

In the ne^ township of Concord there 
were fifty-seven votes polled at this 
election. The names of these voters 
are: Thomas Wisby, John Bonman, 
George Bordon, Waiter Hill, John Bor- 
don, Williani Black, John Hair, Andrew 
Martin, Stephen Hair, Frederick Kibler, 
Alexander Williams, Samuel Whitley, 
Abraham Wiley, Isaac Chapman, jr., 
Leonard Mowrey, George Fender, Isaae 
Chapman/ sr., Jonas Rotroff, William 
Rea, Samuel Bell, John Strain, Thomas 
Pettyjohn, John Lance, Oliver Ross, 
Jacob Sams, Fredrick Keley, Robert 
Badgley. Adam Bingeman, Julius Gor- 
don, Wilford Norice, Daniel Kibler, 
Adam Lance. James Forsyth, Andrew 
Badgley, William Hough, Daniel Smith, 
Edward Brown, Allison G. Keys, Henry 
Nace, Josiah Roberts, Jesse Bryan, Wil- 
liam Boyd, George Barpgruber, Samuel 
Hindman, St. Clair Ross, Elias Boatman, 
Alexander Hamilton, Isaiah Ross, Isaac 
Collins, Godfrey Wilkey, Sovren Brown, 



John Hoop, Peter Fisher, Six Barngrtt- 
ber, Joseph Davidson and Robert Mc- 
Connel. The names of the Judaea and 
Clerks of this election have already been 
given. 

The candidates for the Legislature this 
year were James Johnson, loseph Swear- 
ingen, Samuel Littler and John Gossett. 
Highland and Fayette voted in common 
for that office. James Johnson was the 
successful candidate. For Sheriff, Wil- 
liam Cuny, Samuel HarVey, Anthony 
Franklin, Dudley Richards and Joshua 
Lucas were the candidates, of whom 
Curry was the successful man. Benia- 
min H. Johnson, Dan Evans and John 
Hutsonpiller were the candidates for 
Coroner, Johnson was elected. For 
Commissioner there were Nathaniel 
Pope, Moses Patterson, John Matthews, 
Josiah Ross, Jonathan Sanders, James 
D. Scott, Samuel Terrell, George Parko- 
son, Samudl Patterson and Andrew Kes- 
singer voted for. of whom Moses Patter- 
son was successful. 

The first school house on Sugartree 
Ridge was built in 1810, and stood at the 
foot of the ridge on the east side. It 
was like all the school houses of that 
day, built of unhewed logs in the com- 
mon log cabin style, puncheon floor and 
“cat and clay” chimney. The furniture 
consisted of 'a hewed slab for a writing 
desk and split skplings with legs in them 
for benches. The windows were, accord- 
ing to the prevailing custom, glased with 
greased paper taken from an old copy 
book, covered with rudely made pot- 
hooks, crooked marks, Ac., of rather a 
pale brown color, owing to the fact of 
the ink being rather a bad article of 
maple bark ooze, which was the mater- 
ial used in those days by school boys to 
make the ink they took to school to use 
in learning the art and mystery of writ- 
ing with a pen. The name of the teach- 
er of this primitive school was James 
Hale. 



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INDEX. 



A. 


PAGE 


Age, the Heroic 


9 


Adams, County of .. 




Anderson state Road....... 


101 


Anderson Richard C 


.... 101 


Adair Philip 


. . 109 


Adair Benjamin 


109 


Arnott Adam 


no 


Agriculture, Implements of 


111 


Amusements 


in 


Attorney, the First 


118 


A dare George 


ia« 


B. 




Boone Daniel 


8 


Beasly Nathaniel 


12 


Beals Thomas 


13-55 


Branson John, burning of.... 




Belfast, Battle of 




Braucher Frederick,...^.... 


36 


Brannon, The Thief, Sentence of 


38 


Berryman Jonathan 




Beam Jacob 


43 


Brougher’s Tavern 


44 


Bristol Reuben 


40 


Bacon, price of *n 


Bell William 


52 


Baldwin Jesse 


fifi 


Bear Hunt 


S9 


Boyd Wm. and James 


63 


Butler Samuel 


65 


Burial, first, Lees Creek 




Brushcreek Settlement 


71 


Barrere George W 


HQ 


Brown Joel 90-159 


Blount Cyrus..,. oo 


Barrett Jonathan and Richard. 


114 


Badgley Andrew 


11a 


Barbecue 120 


Burk William to* 


Barnes John and Jacob 


135 


Bloom Christian 


13R 


Boatman William 


147 


Bernard Richard F 


14A 


Bellzer John 155 1 


Barnett William iaq 


Brooks Benjamin 




Building, the oldest brick 


188 


Bear, capture of 


1 HK 


C. 




Craig, William, adventure of 




Company The Ohio 


5 


Chillicotbe laid off. 


32 


Carr Joseph 


42 



PAGE 

Coffey John 02 

Curry James 52 

Curry Otway, the poet 52 

Clermont County established 53 

Corn, first planted 58 

Campbell George 61 

Clark Stephen 61 

Corn, price of 61 

Caw George 63 

Carrington Alexander 63 

Caley George ’ 63 

Carr Benjamin 65 

Corn Mill, first, Lees Creek 66 

I Currency the, of Brushcreek . . . ” 71 

! Convention Constitutional, Members of... 84 

Crawford Noble.„ ’ gj 

Chaney Rev. Edward 90 

Children lost 92 

Colvin Thomas..,. 93 

Combs Zur 93 

County, formation of .!!!!.!!!!..... 94 

Court Officers 95 

Church, first in Brush creek ...... ...... 9 6 

Carlisle James.......... ’ ^ 

Commissioners, Board of 98 

Congressman, the first...,, 102 

Coroner......... ... 102 

Cashatt Thomas 102 

Chaney Evan 102 

Commissioners, Proceedings of 108 

Condition, domestic, of Citizens ' no 

Cowgiil Henry H4 

Crew Joshua ' n 4 

Creek John, Joseph and Jacob 114 

Clothing ......... 115 

Court, session of 1806 116 

County Seat, the removal of 119 

Commissioners’ Proceedings 122 

Cabins, how built 125 

Cartright Peter 125 

Creed Matthew. 127 

Coffin, the first. 128 

Criger John * ’ ” 129 

Clevenger Abraham 129 

Court, the first Supreme .' 130 

Candidates for office 

Church, first Presbyterian 132 

Church, first at Hillsboro 132 

Carothers Rev. Samuel 133 

Church, the Fall Creek ’’ 133 

Charles George * 135 



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INDEX . 



Children, dress of 

Court, first at Hillsboro 

Church, first Methodist Episcopal. 

Campton John 

Court House 

Court, first held in new house 

Concord Township organized 



PAGF. 

.... 155 
... 150 
... 164 
... 177 
... 177 
... 189 
... 101 



Food, the 

Fitzpatrick James.. 
Fitzpatrick Robert.. 

Fraley Frederic 

Fight, af»ee 

Florence John 

Fisher John 



D. 

Dun more, Treaty v>f Lord 

Davis Samuel 

Donaldson Israel 

Davidson John and William. 

Daugherty William 

Dick Thomas 

Dunn's Chapel 

Dobbins Rev. Robert 

Daniels James 

Distillery, the first 

Divorce, the first 

Dryden Joseph..... 



E. 

East Fork, Battle of 

Ellison Andrew 

Edgington John and Asahel 

Evans Amos 

Evans Richard 

Emrie John 

Evans Hugh ..... 

Evans Amos, Daniel and Richard. 

Evans Evan 

East Fork Settlement . 

Eakins Joseph 

Education of Girls 

Election, the first 

Easter Mark 

Election of 1806 

Election, a contested 

Election of 1807 

Edgar Andrew 

Election of 1800 

Emery John 

Earls Edward 

Election of 1810 

Election of 1811 



F. 

Finley Rev. James B 

France, the dominion of 

Fleethart Joshua 

Finley Robert 

Fallen Timbers, Battle of 

Finley J. B 

Fevers in new settlements 

Fells of Paint, Mills at 

Franklin Anthony 

Friends, Society of 

Finley J. B 

Finley, the settlement on Whiteoak. 

Flat Run settlement 

Fullerton Alexander 

Farrier James , 

Fishback John , 

Furniture used 

Frolics at New Market 



6 

12 

18 

60 

63 

72 

102 

132 

156 

161 

179 

186 



15 

27 

27 

28 
29 
44 

57 

58 
65 
80 
83 
88 
99 

129 

131 

134 

141 

169 

188 

184 

184 

190 

192 



3 

5 



33 

37 

40 

45 

53 

55 

59 

60 
61 



110 
112 1 



Q. 

Girty Simon 

Greathouse Daniel 

Gazette Scioto 

Greenfield laid off 

Greenfield, first settlers 

Greenfield, first re»ldents 

Gossett John . ; 

Gibler Lewis 

Gibson Samuel 

Greenfield, settlers 1800 to 1805.. 

Gall George 

Grand Jury, the first 

Griffin James and Jacob 

George Survey The 

Gulliford Allen 

Garrett William .. 

Gossett Amariah 

Governor, contest for 

Goddard Abbot- 

Grant Jeremiah - 



H. 

Hannahstown, destruction of.. 

Horton James, burning of 

Huston Robert. 

Hughey James and Charles 

Hughey Rev. William 

Hill William 

Harrison William H 

Howard James.- 

Hoop Peter 

Head William and Bigger 

Herrod Captain 

Hunting, modes of 

Haigh Job 

Hobson George 

Hays David 

Hammer John 

Hunt Phineas 

Hays Michael C - 

Hart Jo : 

Hart Heth - 

Hunter, trophies of a 

Huff Daniel 

Hiestand Jacob 

Hlestand Joseph, jr 

Hoge Rev. James 

Husking Bee, a 

Hindman Samuel 

Hunt Asa 

Hillsboro, locating of 

Hillsboro, first sale of lots 

Hays David, death of 

Hillsboro, dwellings erected in 

Harvey John 

Holliday Benjamin 



PAGE 
.... 115 
.... 124 
.... 127 
.... 128 
.... 138 
.... 143 
.... 190 



7 

10 

39 

46 

48- 

52 

69 

70 
85 

87 

88 
95 
97 

108 

132 

132 

134 

141 

179 

184. 



... 1 
... 14 
... 41 
.. 49 
.. 50 
.. 58 
.. 58 
... 59 
... 64 
... 76 
... 77 
.. 87 
... 88 
.. 93 
.. 95 
.. 102 
.. 114 
.. 118 
.. 128 
... 120 
.. 129 
.. 130 
.. 131 
.. 132 
.. 132 
.. 133 
.. 135 
.. 136 
.. 138 
.. 140 
.. 143 
.. 163 
.. 163 
. 163 



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INDEX . 



PAGE 

Hutsonpiller John 

Hays James 163 

Hussey Joshua 132 

I. 

Indian habits — 91 

Inskeep Daniel 96 

Iiiff Richard 134 

J. 

Johnson JameR 96 

Justices of the Peace 101 

Jolly James and David 103 

Jolly William, capture of 103 

Jury, the first petit 130 

Jail, the first 137 

Johnson Thomas M..... 148 

Jail, erection of 153 

Johnson Benjamin H 164 

Jail, the doors of 170 

Jail, the stone 187 

Jackson Samuel 188 

K. 

Keys, Col. William’s account 4 

Kenton Simon 6 

Kincade John 49 

Kaar John 49 

Kirkpatrick Elijah 63 

Kelley Ezekiel 85 

Knox Joseph 92 

Kilgore Matthew 98 

Kerr Jo 119 

Knight Jesse 148 

Knott Francis, whipping of 176 

L. 

Land, first located in County 26 

Legislature, Territorial 39 

Lytle William 47 

Lutteral Lewis. 52 

Leesburg, first settler 59 

Llewellyn Mareshah 62 

Lainan Isaac 63 

Luptou William 65 

Lupton Barshaba 65 

Littler Samuel, ? 93 

Leavertou Foster 114 

Lucas Jesse and William 129 

Lang CharleR 163 

Lucas Richard 188 

Lowman John 188 

M. 

Marietta, first permanent Settlement 8 

McArthur Dunca^ 12-46 

Massie Nathaniel 22 

Marshon Timothy 36 

Massie Henry 41 

Manchester, road to 42 

McCoy Abraham 49 

Milligan James 52 

Mill, sweat, a 58 

Milner Beverly 59 

McCoy Thomas 61 

McQuttty Samuel 63 



PAGE 



Murphy Hector 63 

Mill at Smoky Row 63 

Myers Joseph 63 

Medsker Adam 63 

McConnell James 64 

Miller Isaac 64 

Meeting-house, first 64 

Mad River Road 66 

Mill, the first grist 69 

McDaniel Robert 71 

Marriage, first in the County 81 

McLean Jeremiah .. 85 

McOarraugh T....„ 87 

Mill, first water on Brushcreek 89 

Matthews John 97 

Morrow Jeremiah 102 

Mcpauiel Robert 102 

Marsh James 102 

Mast, the great year. 110 

Medical fraternity Ill 

Mills, the pioneer.. 114 

Murphin William 123 

Moving West 124 

Missionaries 126 

Marriages, fee for 129 

Mitchell David 130 

Morrow William..., 130 

Moberley Reason 131 

McConnell Samuel 132 

Miller Fritz ; 135 

Mill, a hominy 130 

Massie Nathaniel, sketch of, 141 

Mill, a horse 147 

Military 147 

Montgomery James 153 

Meek John 157 

Marriage, the first in Hillsboro 167 

Morrow Alexander 168 

Muster, a general 171 

McDonald William 179 

Moore Mike 185 

Madison Township organized 190 

N. 

New Market laid off. 41 

New Amsterdam laid off. 48 

Noland Philip 61 

Nott Francis 87 

N ichols George 92 

Nazareth, the Church of 132 

Nesbit Robert 174 

Nace Henry 180 

o. 

O’Ban non A Fox 21 

Overman Obadlah and Zebulon 55 

Ohio Territorial Convention 68 

Officers, First State 84 

Orchard, the first 85 

P. 

Pioneers, emigrated from where 2 

Patrick Peter, adventure of 2 

Plqua, destruction of 0 

Point Pleasant, Battle of. 11 

Pope Nathaniel 20 



A 



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INDEX. 



PAGE 

Pioneers, Custom s of 30 

Postoffice at Chillicothe 30 

Postoffice at New Market - 48 

Parmer Joseph..... ^ 52 

Pope Nathaniel •• 54 

Pope William 56 

Paris William 61 

Porter John .. 63 

Preachers, first 64 

Parkinson George 67 

Pope J. W .. - 79 

Patterson Moses- 110 

Plows, the .......... - — Ill 

Preachers, Pioneer...— 126 

Peach Orchard .« 126 

Patton William, Joseph and James 130 

Pittenger Rev. Nicholas — ...-*132 

Pottery, the first .. 134 

Population, Accessions to. 156 

Pye Thomas — 163 

Pavey Rev. Isaac .. 176 

Q. 

Quinn James 125 

Quinn Rev. James, sketch of 157 

R. 

Rogers William and Thomas - 28 

Ross Oliver 41 

Ross St. Clair 43-44 

Ross Oliver, appointed J. P 51 

Ray William - 63 

Row George 63 

Roberts Isaiah - 64 

Rockhold John and Jacob 70 

Ross David 82 

Reece David — 83 

Ratcliff Edom 88 

Roads Jacob and Philip , 88 

Rails, First made at Hillsboro 90 

Richards Gus and George ... 98 

Richards John 99 

Representatives elected 100 

Representatives, Anecdote of 100 

Roads laid out .. 101 

Road, the Old College - 101 

Richardson John 102 

Ratcliff Amos 102 

Rains George 102 

Rogers William 108 

Roush John 110 

Robinson Abner 114 

Roads, Cutting of 121 

Road, the Old West Union 153 

Runnels Caleb 163-186 

Richland, Township of. 170 

Road, The Whisky 184 

Rotroff James 186 

8 . 

Settlement, First in State 3 

Shawneetown, Destruction of 6 

St. Clair, Expedition of 12 

Surveyors, Hardships Suffered. 26 

Settlement, First in County 34 

Smith Jacob and Enoch 45 



PAGE 



Society the, of New Market 51 

State House, Erection of 51 

Schooley Sam uel 52 

Swear! ngeiv Joseph 58 

Smith James and Job 63 

Smoky Row Mill 63 

Summers Lewis 63 

Shoemaker Simon 64 

Stroup Michael 66 

St. Clair Arthur 68 

Smith “Scotch Johnny” - 60 

Shoemaker Simon, Peter and Martin 71 

School, the First 86 

Smith Samuel - 87 

Stultz Peter and Jacob 88 

Smith Seth - 93 

Spinning Wheels 93 

Spargur Joseph W 93 

Stafford Jarvis and Shadrach 97 

Starr Alexander 97 

Surgery, a Case of 97 

Snakes 97-98 

Shockley John — 102 

Strain John .. — - 102 

Streams, Names of 109 

Shafer Andrew 110 

Store, the First 112 

Sharp William and Isaac 114 

Stafford William 114 

Salary, County Treasurer 122 

Smith John - 123 

Smith Jeremiah 128 

Sermon, the First 129 

Strain Samuel - 132 

Slaughter Robert F 136 

Squirrels, Migration of~ 149 

Scott William C 153 

Stitt Sam uel 157 

Stroup Anthony 161 

Spickard William - 161 

Smith William - 161 

Shields John 163 

Swearingen Samuel 164 

Scott James D 164 

Stivens Samuel King 165 

Sanderson Georgd 168 

Spring, The Eagle 181 

Starr Pearson — .. 183 

School-house, First at Sugartree Ridge 192 

T. 

Trimble James — 9 

Temperance, First Legislation 38 

Tiffin Joseph 39 

Tea, Scarcity of • 51 

Templin Robert and Tary 64 

Tanyard, First 81 

Tiffin Edward 84 

Tavern, First in Greenfield 87 

Trimble Allen 97 

Templin Salmon 97 

Tobacco, the First in County 97 

Taxes, First Levy 98 

Tudor John 109 

Turkeys, Catching of 127 



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INDEX . 



PAGE 

Tomlinson Josiali , 133 

Tax, the Land in 1809 182 

V. 

Virginia Military District 21 

VanMeter Joseph 64 

VanPelt Rev. Benjamin 71 

VanMeter Morgan 80 

Vannoy William and John 135 

VanMeter, Settlement of 161 

W. 

Warrants, Land, Location of 22 

Wayne’s Expedition 28 

Wilcoxon John 34 

Wheat, First Sown in State. 38 

Whisky, Price of 38 

Willis Nathaniel 39 

Wishart William 41 

Whisky, First in New Market 48 

Wishart ’s Enterprise 48 

Wright Job 48 

Wilson George 58 

Wheeler Levin 61 

Weaver George 63 

Wright Edward 65 

Wolfe David 77 



PAGE 

Waw-wil-a-way, Death of 77 

Walker Miss Polly 81 

Williams William 97 

Walton Aaron 102 

Walter Nathaniel 102 

Wilkin Philip 110 

Women, the Work of 115 

Woolas John W 130 

Wright William, Alexander and James... 130 

Watts James 132 

Well, the First 137 

Williamson Samuel 153 

Walker David 161 

Warner Levi 163 

Wright Joseph 164 

Worley Jacob. 174 

Whipping Post 176 

Woodrow Joshua 183 

Whitley Samuel .. 184 

W arson Robert 188 

Weir Daniel 188 

Y. 

Year, a Hard 150 

Z. 

Zane’s Trace 4 



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